


Powers

by GreenColin



Category: The Yogscast
Genre: Angst, Anxiety Attacks, Fluff, Minor Character Death, Multi, Mutant Powers, Teencast, hatfic, mutant AU, slowbuild, smornby, yogfic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-03
Updated: 2016-04-16
Packaged: 2018-04-02 17:29:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 13
Words: 41,748
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4068481
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GreenColin/pseuds/GreenColin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>****** ON HIATUS UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE ******<br/>After an accident, Ross Hornby discovers his ability to manipulate water. He is sent to a special school for powered people where he'll meet a lot of young mutants like him, including the hot and tortured Alex Smith. Between the challenges of a new world and school dramas, will Ross and his new friends be able to face the rising threat of a group of ill-intentioned mutants.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“Stop! You’re going to kill him!” yelled Ross at the masked man.

He gave a terrified look at Alex who was crying in pain a few meters away and trying to resist the man’s hold on his mind.

The redhead’s body was tensed from head to toes, his head thrown back in hurt. His visible skin was glowing a hot orange, reminiscing of burning coals.He looked like it was about to implode.

Ross let go of Trott’s unconscious body and stood up, swaying slightly. Ignoring the pain in his chest and digging in his last forces, he extended his arms and threw a flow of water to both the hooded man and Alex.

Alex fell to his knees, his skin getting back to a more normal shade and he started sobbing while his tormentor fell over, slightly stunned.

Ross ran to his boyfriend, and kneeling next to him, he took Alex in his arms. Alex was shaking like crazy under Ross’ touch, his body irradiating feverish warmth. Drops of water fell from his curled hair mixing with tears as he looked up at Ross.

“I tried to stop him, but I …. I couldn’t.” Alex cried.

“Shhh, it’s okay. You did great.” murmured Ross as Alex clung to him.

“He’s too powerful.”

“I know.” swallowed Ross as they watched their enemy stand again on his feet. 

Furrowing his brows, the man said hoarsely:

“Your mind is strong, firestarter. But let’s see how you’re doing without the help of your friends.”

Before either of them was able to do anything, Ross felt his body ripped from Alex and he heavily hit the ground meters away. The last thing he heard before blacking out was the sound of Alex’s broken voice screaming his name.

 

*** 9 MONTHS AGO ***

When Ross first experienced his powers, it was not this magical, exciting and time-stopping moment people expect. It was messy and scary, an accident at the pool only a few days after his sixteenth birthday, where he had stupidly hit his head on the edge of the pool and, knocked out, almost drowned. And everything that happened after. It was all a blur really. The wave, the swirling water, the screams, him blacking out, the hospital, his parents talking to clueless doctors. His late nights alone crying himself to sleep. Scared out of his mind. Nothing magical about it really.

And the accident with the shower when a nurse found him sobbing on the floor head in his hands. He remembered saying “Make it stop. Please. Make it stop.” And then the visit a few days later of a tall man with dark hair and intense green eyes who talked to his nervous parents, and then introduced himself to Ross.

Arthur Yean, director of a special school, he said. He smiled at Ross’ unconvinced face. Not an asylum, but a safe place for people like you, he promised.

“Here were are, kid.” The taxi driver’s rough voice shook Ross out of his thoughts as the taxi stopped. 

Ross looked outside the window. He was facing a large metal entrance, a brick arch supporting an engraved sign “Yean Institute. School for gifted children”. The gate was surrounded by two large red brick walls running across the countryside out of Ross’ eyesight.

Ross took a few deep breaths and got out of the taxi, leaning on it with one hand, too mesmerized by the place to realize the taxi’s door closing on his fingers. He cried out and sighted painfully as the taxi driver handed him his bag with an apologetic smile. Ross turned as the gate opened on the Director.

“Welcome Ross. I hope your travel went well. I’m sorry if it seems so far away from everything but I do like my privacy. That and the fresh air of the English countryside.” He smiled heartedly to Ross and Ross couldn't help himself grinning back. He liked the guy. Something about his attractive features and his deep green eyes, the eyes of a wise old man who has seen too much of the world but did not give up on it yet.

The Director paid the taxi driver, and as the car left he led Ross inside the property.

 

They walked towards a large old mansion, sided by a few others modern buildings, perfectly incorporated in the landscape. They entered the brick mansion and Yean introduced Ross into his office situated at the ground floor.

“Have a seat Ross. Would you like anything to drink?” He asked, closing the door behind him.

“Yes thank you, a tea would be great.” replied Ross as he sat on one of the two big leather chairs in front of an elegant oak desk. He looked around him curiously, massaging his sore fingers. The office was well lighted with two big windows overlooking on what seem to be a garden. Ross’ eyes swept quickly across the high amount of books (Psychology and Medicine for the most part, Ross noticed), sculptures and personal items decorating the many shelves.

He blushed as he noticed he had the Director’s attention but was reassured with a smile as the tall man handed him a cup. Ross winced when he grabbed it with his sore hand. Yean sat behind his desk, bringing a cup to his lips. Ross swallowed the lump in his throat before asking.

“You said back at the hospital it was a special school, for people with .... powers? ” The word still felt weird on his tongue as he said it. The director nodded, allowing him to continue. “Are they a lot of people like… like me here?”

“We have about 50 students from all ages. As well as 5 teachers.”

“Do the teachers have powers as well?”

“Yes, 4 of them, me included. The last one has no powers, but don’t let him fool you, Professor Carter is one of the smartest person I know. His our school therapist and if you need to talk about anything his door is always open.”

Ross nodded as he memorized the informations and realized something.

“You have powers too?”

“Give me your hand.” Yean smiled. “The other one, Ross.” he added when Ross offered his undamaged hand. 

Ross let the Director take his wounded hand, curious. Suddenly, he felt a warm touch as Yean’s fingers slowly touched his.  The warmth spread to the entire hand, running through his skin, tickling slightly. When the man let go of his hand, he realized that the pain was gone, and his swollen fingers back to their normal size and color. His jaw dropped as he looked up to the other man and then back down, playing with his now completely healed fingers.

 

 

“You are going to meet a lot of people like you here Ross. People who have been through the same changes, the same fears. The weeks after the first signs are always difficult. Even if usually, the signs appear much sooner. You are some kind of a late bloomer I guess.”

“You mean I was born with them? It didn’t just… happen to me?”  asked Ross, hoping he would finally find out why this had happened to him.

“Your powers were in you from the start, latent but already there. Either because of family history or as a random mutation of your DNA.” explained Yean.

“Family? Is… ” started Ross, being quickly interrupted by Director Yean.

“I have already checked Ross, nobody in your family as ever shown any sign of abilities whatsoever. You seem to be a single occurrence.”

Ross felt disappointed, without really being sure why. He always felt close to his parents, being an only child, but the way they looked at him in the hospital. Panicked, afraid, disgusted. He made him feel so isolated when all he wanted was his parents telling him that everything was going to be okay.

“You are not alone in this situation, Ross.” the Director told him, as if reading  his mind.  “A lot of students here had no idea of the existence of their powers before they first experienced them.”

“What’s causing the powers to appear for the first time?” asked Ross.

“The initial trigger is usually emotional or in your case, a near death experience. The fear of the situation caused you to act on survival instinct, allowing your powers to take control and save you.”

Tears started filling Ross’ eyes. He could recall his accident like it was yesterday. His head hitting the side of the pool, the pain, the panic as he sank in the water and blacked out. He remembered waking up in the water, his brain of the verge of explosion and without knowing how a hurling wave had suddenly carried him, washing him out on the side of the pool. And he blacked out again.

Yean continued his explanations.

“You seem to have an affinity with water. Controlling the liquid at your will and… ”

“Can you make it stop?” interrupted Ross, as tears were now rolling down his face.

Yean sighted and gave him a sad smile.

“Unfortunately there is no known way to “remove” someone’s powers for good.

Ross sobbed. He had hoped he could have gone back to his normal existence, at his school, with his friends, before it all happened.

“But we can teach you to understand and control them. That’s what we do here. With every student comes new powers, new questions. The others teachers and me are here to help you through it Ross. And teach you how to live with them.”

Ross tried to swallow the lump in his throat as he washed away the tears. “So I’m stuck with it?”

“I’m afraid so.”

Before Ross was able to say more, a bell rang in the mansion, making him jumped.

“Ah, the classes have ended for the day. I’m afraid that our time is up Ross.  I’m sure your tour guide will be here in less than a second , he’ll be able to tell you more about your classes and the life here.”

Before Ross had the time to get up and thank the Director, he heard a knock on the door.

“Come on in, Christopher.”

A short brunet about Ross’ age entered the office with a big smile lighting up his attractive features.

“Ross, this is Christopher Trott, a student here. He will help you get your bearings around the place and explain how everything works here. Christopher, this is Ross Hornby, the new student I told you about.”

“Nice to meet you, Ross. You can call me Trott. Everyone does.” Trott said, his words almost too fast to understand.

“Nice to meet you as well,... Trott” Ross answered. The genuine smile the shorter boy shot him in reply made him feel comfortable right away.

Ross turned to the Director, shook his hand with a nod and grabbed his bag before leaving the office with the brunet.

“Everything’s going to be alright Ross. You are in good hands.” Yean assured him before closing the door behind them.

 

 

The two boys started to walk into the hall towards the entrance way before Trott broke the silence. “Director Yean is pretty cool huh?”

“Yeah, yeah he’s really nice.” said Ross as he looked around nervously. Noticing his apprehensive state, Trott told him in a confident voice.

“Don’t worry Ross. You’re going to feel at home in no time.” Trott guaranteed, his fingers snapping in a flash.  

Back at the entrance, Trott stopped and pointing to the two big wooden stairs running along the walls and joining at the top, he explained:

“This is the main building. The mansion. Upstairs are the dormitories, some classes and the infirmary. Always useful to know where it is. God knows I have spent a lot of time in there.”

“Are you healed by the Director?” asked Ross, curiosity taking over his nerves.

“Oh no, not if the injury is not life threatening. He wants us to learn from our mistakes and all. And I did a lot of them when I tried to run.”  Trott explained as they started making their way up the stairs.

“Run?” Ross took his eyes away from the room to pay closer attention to the other boy.

“Oh yeah. I run. Fast. That’s my power.” beamed Trott. “Wasn’t a surprised really. It runs it the family after all.” Trott laughed at his own pun as Ross stopped on the last step.

“Your parents have powers too?” he gasped.

“Not my parents. My uncle, yes, he’s a speedster too, he’s way faster than me though. My grandparents on my mother side both had powers as well. And my brother of course. He’s a student here but he wants to become a teacher soon, so he’s spending a lot of time assisting with the classes. I’m sure you’ll meet him very soon.”

He revealed all that in a very calm voice, like it was the most normal thing in the world to have abilities that defy the understanding.

“What about you? What can you do?” Trott urged.

“Me?”

“Yeah. What kind of power do you have? Is it a family thing as well?”

“No, I never knew I had powers or that they even existed until I almost drown in a pool last week.” confessed Ross.

“Oh that’s a harsh way to find out.”

“Yeah, I don’t really what happened but for one moment I was sinking and the other one, a wave got me out of the water.”

“A wave? So you control water? That’s so cool!”

Trott looked at him expectantly and Ross’ heart tightened a little as he admitted.

“Well, I don’t really control anything right now but Director Yean said that I had “an affinity with water” whatever that means. It happened also in my shower, the water suddenly circled me and I panicked.”

“It’s always a shock the first time. Even if I knew about them, you should have seen my face when I find myself lost in the middle of nowhere when a second before I was doing cross with my school. I gave a serious fright to everyone.” laughed Trott.

Ross laughed with him. Speaking to Trott was so effortless and he was glad to finally have someone to talk to about all without being terrified. They continued talking about Trott’s family, Ross having a millions questions as they kept touring the mansion. 

“… but my parents have never been more proud of me than the day I brought my invisible girlfriend home.”

“Invisible girlfriend?” asked Ross, now confused.

“Yeah Katie.” Trott smiled widely. “She can turn invisible. I learned that while playing hide and seek with her a few years ago, just after she arrived to the school. Of course, I lost and when I called her a cheat, she just laughed and kissed me.” He giggled at the memory. “We've been together ever since.”

Interrupting Trott’s nostalgia moment, a black cat jumped in front of Ross and started rubbing against his leg.

Ross smiled fondly and turned to Trott to ask “What about this little guy? Is he your mascot or something?”

“Not really.” replied an unknown voice with a pronounced Scottish accent. Ross snapped his head and almost fell over at the sight of the long haired boy now stood in front of him. “Hi, you must be new.” 

“Yeah I’m … I’m..” mumbled Ross, trying to recover from the shock.

“Nilesy, this is Ross. He just arrived this afternoon.” answered Trott for him.

“Nice to meet you Ross, sorry for the fright. I just couldn’t help myself.” chuckled Nilesy and he turned to Trott. “Sjin was looking for you, he’s in the gardens.”

“Thanks man, it’s on our tour anyway.”

After a nod, Nilesy chuckled again and left.

“Did he.. did he…?” tried Ross.

“He can morph to any felines, just be glad he chose his cat form over a more tigery one.” laughed Trott as his eyes fell on Ross’ bag. “We can maybe stop by the dorm to drop your stuff before continuing the tour.”

Ross accepted his words gratefully as his shoulder started to protest against the weight of his duffle bag.

They headed down one of the hallways, walking in in front of a steel double door, very different from the other wood ones. Ross stopped to read the name tag on it.

_A.Smith._

“What is that about?” asked Ross, pointing to the reinforced door.

Trott replied on a low voice.

“ _That_  is too much for your first day, Ross.”

Ross turned to Trott, waiting for him to continue but the boy was already gone a few meters ahead. With a final look at the door, Ross jogged to catch up with him.


	2. Chapter 2

Once Ross settled in his room that he was sharing with Trott and another student named Simon, they trudged down the stairs and made their way to the gardens. Ross took a deep breath, filling his lungs with fresh air and hundreds of different smells.

Trott stopped to pick up a beautiful yellow flower before they walked to a bearded guy kneeled on the floor, arranging dirt around a small green bush.

“Sjin,” called Trott.

“Trott, do you have what I asked for?” the bearded guy urged, while standing up and wiping his dirty hands on his blue overalls without so much as giving a look at Ross.

He frowned when Trott replied. “I didn’t have time to stop by the shop today.”

“You didn’t have time? You’re going to have to find a better lie than that, Speedy,” Sjin hissed, stepping closer to him.

“I was giving a tour of the school to Ross. He’s new,” Trott explained, hand barely still for a second as he pointed towards Ross.

Sjin finally examined Ross and with a sly smile, he told him “Welcome to the crazy house.” Before grabbing Trott’s wrist and his eyes fixed on him, Sjin articulated “You better go tomorrow.”

Ross gasped as the flower in Trott’s hand decayed before his very eyes.

“Hey! That was for Katie!” complained Trott, letting the wilted flower fall the ground.

“I will grow you a fucking field of it if you want once I get my stuff!” barked the bearded man. Sjin let go of Trott’s wrist and without another look at Ross he walked away.

“Jesus, what’s his deal?” asked Ross.

Trott massaged his wrist as he answered. “He’s been having problems with his boyfriend lately. And has taken the habit of taking it out on everybody else but the responsible party. But, to be fair, we don’t have the most amicable relationship on campus. Him and me.” He quickly added after catching the curious look on Ross’ face. “Long story. We used to be friends, but we started disagreeing on some stuff. It’s kind of all gone downhill since then.”

Dropping the sensitive subject, they walked along the gardens and Trott showed Ross the other buildings surrounding the mansion. A gym, training rooms filled with all sorts of equipment, a large cafeteria with a dozen tables, a library, equipped with state of the art computers and finally, at the back of the brick mansion and to Ross’ delight, an Olympic pool.

 

 

At dinner time, they headed for the cafeteria.

As Ross decided to take dessert for the second time, he left Trott alone at their table, making his way to the dessert tray. Bringing back proudly the last piece of chocolate cake, he found his new friend in a heated conversation with a short girl with shoulder-length black hair. As he slowly approached the table, he managed to catch the end of their argument.

“... and he missed class for the last two days. We have to do something,” she whispered.

“You know he doesn’t want us around,” Trott murmured in reply, fidgeting his leg nervously.

“We can’t let him alone through this. This weekend it will be 5 years since…” She added.

Trott interrupted her and said quickly under this breath. “I know, Kim. But that’s exactly why he wants to stay away the next few days. He thinks he’s unstable.”

“Trott…” insisted Kim.

Trott hissed through clenched teeth. “You are not the only one who still cares about him. Okay? But he’s the one who want things like that.”

Furrowing her nose and planting her hands on her hips, Kim snorted. “It doesn’t make it a good idea.”

“I agree but we have to respect his wish,” concluded Trott, ending the conversation. Kim sighted angrily and clenched her fists. At that moment, Ross could have sworn her eyes flashed purple for a second before she shook her head and walked away.

Ross sat next to Trott and noticing his preoccupied face, he asked him. “Are you okay?”

Trott dismissed his question. “I’m fine.”

Ross was about to insist when 3 boys suddenly sat at their table.

“Hey Trott!” chirped a broad boy with glasses and ginger hair. He continued, turning to Ross.

“Hi, you must be Ross! I saw your stuff in our room. I’m Simon, your roommate.”

“Hello,” greeted Ross, smiling shyly.

“This is Duncan.” Simon pointed to a tall blond boy who was eating eagerly his pasta, briefly lifting his head to nod at Ross. Simon then turned to the other boy, a short haired brunet who was gazing in the directing of another table, where Kim and another girl with long blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes were talking excitedly. “And lover boy here is Lewis.”

The said Lewis blushed as he exclaimed, “Don’t call me that!”

“I will. When you finally ask her out, lover boy” Simon offered, making kissy noises at him and leaning towards him.

“What’s telling you I didn’t do it already?” Lewis retorted, pushing Simon away.

Everyone at the table but Lewis and Ross laughed.

“Please Lewis, I think we would know if you had asked Hannah out,” Trott snorted.

Lewis muttered under his breath about the real possibility of changing friends as Simon turned back to Ross. “Have you been assigned a handler yet?”

“A… handler?” Ross’ eyebrows furrowed.

“Yeah, a teacher that will help you with school stuff and monitor your progress,” chimed in Duncan.

“No, not yet,” murmured Ross, biting his lower lip and trying to stop from panicking.

“He just got here, they probably want to get to know him a bit in order to assign the teacher the most suited for him,” Lewis explained logically, as he started to dig into his dinner.

They all nodded and Ross let out a relieve sigh. He spent the evening listening to the four boys bickering excitedly about the best teacher and paid special attention to their stories about the school. He answered heartedly to all the questions that were thrown at him by his new friends.

 

 

In the dead of the night, listening to the soft snores of his sleeping roommates, Ross turned in his bed, wide awake. Tomorrow, he will have his first classes and he was freaking out. As Trott told him earlier, he would have a few classes a day, and if some were familiars like English, History and Math, some of them we’re totally new to him, including the ones relating to his newly acquired powers.

 Would he be asked to do a demonstration in front of everyone? If yes, he was screwed. He had no idea how to use his powers or control them. Until now, every time his abilities kicked in it was an accident and Ross didn’t even realize what he was doing.

He thought about the school's pool and how a good swim always cleared his mind. But now, lying in his new bed, he was torn between the memory of his accident and the joy that swimming used to procure him. Taking a deep breath, he pushed his sheets away and after slipping in a pair of shoes, he slowly left his room.

Taking great care of being as silent as possible, he made his way to the back of the mansion. Once at the pool, he took his pajamas off safe for his boxer briefs, and sat by the side of the pool, sinking his feet down the water. His heart raced as he remembered what happened last time he was in a pool but he drove his panic far away in a dim place of his brain. Taking a deep breath, he pushed himself in the cool water.

Ross had always loved water. No noise. No distraction. He just let the numb feeling overtake him as he sank and sat at the bottom of the pool. As he closed his eyes, he realized that holding his breath was easier than before. He though back at what Director Yean told him, that he was born with his powers, his affinity with water. It all made sense now.

After a moment, he pushed himself up and gasped for air. Content, he swam to the side of the pool and pressing his arms on the edge, he pushed his upper body out of the water to lean his chin on them. He sighed happily, looking outside through the big glass panels. He could see the stars, a sight so rare when he was living in an ever clouded city.

Lost in his thoughts, his eyes caught a sudden movement on the reflection in front of him. He turned quickly to cross eyes with a tall auburn headed boy.

Ross’ jaw dropped when he took in the sight of the undeniably good - looking stranger. He was probably about his age, slightly taller than him perhaps and had the most stunning cerulean eyes Ross ever saw.

The young man looked startled as he acknowledged Ross’ presence in the pool and mumbling an apology, he turned to the door.

“Wait. Wait!” screamed Ross, a bit too loud for his own taste, making him blushed fiercely when the other turned back, surprised. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know there was someone up. I… I just needed to clear my head,” he rambled, incredibly nervous under the gorgeous stranger’s gaze.

“By taking a swim in the middle of the night?” The boy smirked and Ross choked up a bit at the sight of white pearly teeth. He quickly nodded.

His stomach dropped when the young man walked away from the door and approached Ross’ side of the pool.

“You’re new.” It wasn’t a question and Ross found himself blushing again.

“I’m Ross. Hi. Hornby. Ross Hornby. Just Ross is fine.” He stumbled over his words as the smirk on the other’s face grew wider. His thoughts were clouding and his ears echoing loudly with the sounds of his racing heart.

“Well Ross, nice to meet you. You mind keep it down though?”

Ross’ heart jumped out of his chest when he realized the bubbling turmoil of the water around him. “I don’t control it. I don’t know how I…” He said in a panicked voice.

“Close your eyes, take deep breaths, and focus on my voice Ross.” The boy told him, dragging Ross’ attention back to him.

Ross was about to object as focusing on him had caused the problem in the first place and he didn’t see how it could possibly be the solution. But, snapping his mouth close before he said anything stupid, he did as he was told. As he felt his heartbeat slowing down, the water soothed around him. “Thanks,” Ross exhaled.

“No problem. It’s all in the breathing, or at least that’s what Mrs Barnes says.” The auburn headed boy sat on the side of the pool and after rolling his leg pants up, carefully sank his feet in the pool. He sighted delightedly.

Ross shook himself from staring intensely at the stranger and taking a deep breath, he asked. “So why are you at the pool in the middle of the night?  Are your powers connected to water as well? ”

The boy chuckled, spreading butterflies inside Ross’ stomach and Ross decided to get out of the pool as he listened to his reply.

“Not really, no. Quite the opposite.” The auburn headed looked up to watch Ross pushing himself out of the water and his eyes lingered on his muscled back and fell on his soaked tight black underwear. “It’s the only place apart from my room that I know won’t burn to the ground.” He admitted, dropping his gaze when Ross turned to him with a curious look on his face.

The stranger extended his right palm up above the water and Ross saw a small bowl of fire growing inside his hand. The dark haired young man raised his eyebrows and said breathlessly “Fuck. That is so cool.”

The boy closed his hand and the fire disappeared. He closed his eyes and dropped his head, looking absently in the water. Ross noticed the pained expression as it distorted the stranger’s attractive features. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to...” he started.

“Don’t worry about it.” The young man smirked but Ross noticed that the smile didn't quite reach his eyes.

The boy stood up, rolling down his pajamas in silence and walked to the door. Before reaching it, he turned to Ross and spreading butterflies in the shorter man’s stomach for the second time in minutes, he smiled and said in a soft voice. “You better go back to your dorm, Ross Hornby. Director Yean is not very keen on students up in the middle of the night.” And without another word, he left.

Ross put his clothes on, grinning like an idiot before realizing he didn’t get the chance to ask for the boy’s name.

 

 

Alex Smith was still smiling when he got back to his dorm and slipped under his sheets. He had left the safety of his room to escape his dark thoughts and the encounter with the dark haired boy certainly did the trick.

Ross’ curiosity and innocence were refreshing, almost endearing. Ross had seen his powers as “cool”, not dangerous or unstable. Alex was tired of seeing people, students and teachers alike gave him looks flitching between worry and fear every time Alex raised his voice more than normal. Like he was about to explode. Well technically he could, he chuckled to himself bitterly.

And the boy was definitely cute, with his soft blue eyes and athletic body. Alex shook his head. He needed to stop thinking about it right now. Stop thinking about the light pink color of Ross’ cheeks when he was all flustered. Definitely stop thinking about the way his tight black underwear curved his perfectly shaped rear.

When Alex felt his skin buzzing and warming up quickly, he jumped out of his sheets and ran to one of the corner of his room. Back to the ice-cold steel wall, he slid down on the floor and forced himself to take deep breaths.

As he felt his skin slowly cooling down, he groaned in frustration. He was tired of staying away from everyone, avoiding the human touch when he was so desperately craving. His heart clenched as he remembered what happened the last time he let someone too close. Trott had tried to help him during one of his anxiety attacks but Alex hadn’t been able to control his powers.

He cringed at the memory of his friend’s burns afterwards. Fortunately, with the combined force of Director Yean healing powers and Trott’s ability of healing faster than everyone else, the incident remained contained and Trott had forgiven Alex right away, reassuring him that it wasn’t his fault. A feeling echoed by Doctor Carter during their weekly appointments but Alex hadn’t forgiven himself and had pushed everyone away.  

It was months ago now. And if some of his friends hadn’t given up on him yet, Alex thought it wasn’t long before they eventually did. And then he will be all alone.


	3. Chapter 3

The classes dragged all morning and Ross was bored. Sure he was late on a few subjects in Math and History, but nothing he couldn’t fix with a few hours of hard work. Trott even offered to share his own notes to help him catch up his delay.

Making their way to their next class in one of the training room, Ross remembered to ask the brunet about the young man he met last night. A tall redhead with fire powers. He said nothing about the stunning eyes and the cute chuckle that still fluttered Ross’ stomach every time he thought about it, but Trott reacted right away.

“You saw Smith? When?”

A sharp voice shot from behind them. “Wow! You’ve met the blazing Alex Smith and live to tell the tell?”

Trott turned to face Sjin and warned. “You better shut it. I told you not to talk about him like that.”

The bearded man grinded through his teeth. “You know they are all the same! How can you be still defending him after he almost killed you, Trott?”

“It was an accident! He didn’t mean to!” replied the speedster, clenching his fists.

Sjin leaned to Trott and croaked hoarsely “Like burning his house down?”

“Don’t you dare…” started Trott, only to be interrupted by Kim, now standing beside Ross.

“He had no idea what he could do!” she defended.

Sjin didn’t even turn to her and kept eye contact with Trott, poking the short brunet’s chest as he spat “Yeah but it doesn’t change the fact that he wiped out all his family that night! He’s a bloody murderer!”

Ross gasped and he felt his stomach dropped at Sjin’s words but before anyone had the time to react, Trott jumped on the bearded man and they both rolled down the floor. Trott started hitting him in the face with blurring speed.

Ross started to panic at the scene before him and snapped his head to Kim to ask her what they were supposed to do. Staggered, he realized she was now levitating a few inches from the floor, her head thrown back and mouth moving quickly, whispering what seems gibberish to Ross as a glowing purple flow whirled around her. The scene was simply terrifying and Ross, eyes wide as saucers, took a step back, bumping into the rapidly growing crowd around them.

An earsplitting scream suddenly hit them all. The dark haired man clasped his hands on his violated ears as the shriek drilled his skull and travelled his all body. He almost fell to his knees under the pain but the high pitch noise stopped as suddenly as it began.

All dazed, the students groaned painfully all around Ross as his watering eyes found Sjin, laid on the floor. His face was swelling up with bruises and he seemed unconscious. Trott was kneeling next to him, head in his hands.

A loud voice startled Ross as it rang through the hallway. “Trott, Richards. To the director’s office. NOW!” He turned to see a tall broad man with piercing blue eyes and a well cut beard storming through the students.

“But Turps…” complained Trott as the man roughly pulled him up on his feet.

“Don’t make me scream again.” warned Turps and he added to a tall student standing in the crowd. “Sam, can you and Benji bring Sjin to the infirmary please?”

The student named Sam picked up Sjin like he was weightless and took off in direction of the wooden stairs, followed by a shorter man with a bowl cut. Ross remembered seeing the pair of them at the gym the day before, Sam lifting dumbbells the size of a small car as the other man counted the lifts, un-phased.

Ross shook his head and ran after Trott and Kim. Once outside Yean’s door, Turps told them to wait in the hallway while he talked to the director. Silence fell on the corridor, almost deafening after the events of the last minutes. Ross’ ears were still ringing and he massaged his temples to sooth the beginning of a headache. The door opened on Director Yean and Ross saw Trott shrank under the man’s disapproving look.

They all flinched as Yean commanded in a sharp voice. “Wait for me inside while I take care of your classmate.”  

Both looking down, ashamed, Trott and Kim entered the office and the director slammed the door behind them. Regaining a semblance of calm, he turned to Ross. “Mr Hornby, shouldn’t you be in class right now?” And without another word, he left to the infirmary, followed by Turps.

After a final look on the office’s door, Ross sighed and reluctantly made his way to the training room for his next class. As soon as he entered, Lewis and Hannah both jumped on him. “We heard Turps’ sonic scream! What the hell happened?”

Ross quickly explained the events as Lewis shook his head and Hannah interrupted him before he could finish “Kim did what?”

“I’m not … sure.” Ross quickly described Kim’s behavior. “I don’t know what she’s able to do but I think Trott’s fists did the most damage.”

“Trott hit Sjin?” Lewis gasped, grasping his hair between his fingers.

“It was a long time coming.” murmured Hannah, shaking her head.

Lewis quickly interjected as he frowned “Can you really blame Sjin though? Trott knows his history with Smith too well.”

“It’s not his fault Lewis!” replied the blond girl, her piercing blue eyes seeming to thrown lightning bolts.

“I know, I know.” Lewis raised his hands in front of him in surrender.

Ross witnessed their exchange, and confused he asked “What are you talking about?”

Lewis jumped as he just remembered Ross’ presence. He shuffled his foot a bit and looked at Hannah, uncertain. She simply nodded to him. “Sjin’s sister got killed when he was four. In a fire.” He finally said, turning to the dark haired man and running nervously a hand in his own hair.

Ross jumped “And he blames Smith for it?”

“The fire was criminal, set by Smith’s uncle.” sighed Hannah “He’s dead now, but Sjin never gave Smith a chance. And it cost him his long time-friendship with Trott.”

“And now they’re fist fighting in the hallway?” commented Lewis, incredulous. “How did we get here?”

“He called Smith a murderer.” Ross swallowed the large lump on his throat as Sjin’s words echoed in his mind. He hesitated a few seconds before adding, not sure he really wanted to hear the truth “Is it true? Did he really kill his parents?”

Lewis and Hannah exchanged a nervous look and the blond girl finally nodded, smiling sadly at Ross. “He was only eleven then and he didn’t know he had powers yet. One night, he had a nightmare and he woke up in the middle of his burning house. Unfortunately the fire burned too quickly and Smith’s parents and brothers died. He was the only survivor.”

“And he blames himself for it since then.” Added Lewis, shaking his head.

Ross’ heart tightened. How could someone live after that he wondered, thinking every day that you are responsible for the death of your entire family. He remembered Smith’s face when Ross had admired his fireball. What an idiot. Smith probably saw his powers more like a curse, reminding him every day of what he had done.

The dark haired man was interrupted in his thoughts by the arrival of their PE teacher.

“We sure picked our day to make out in the gym.” sighed Hannah as they all sat down on the training room’s floor. And Ross couldn’t help a small laugh as he saw Lewis bury his head in his hands as he tried to hide the fierce blush on his face.

 

 

At lunch time, neither Trott nor Kim had reappeared and the small group composed of Ross, Lewis, Simon and Duncan made their way to the cafeteria. Sitting down at a table, picking at their menu of the day, mash potatoes and sausages, they started talking about the events of the morning.

“He’s not going to get suspended is he? It’s my entire fault! I should have never mentioned Smith. ” whined Ross.

“Don’t worry, mate. You didn’t know.” reassured Simon, but his words did not comforted Ross at all as the ginger was looking extremely worry himself.

A short girl with fiery dyed hair came to their table, greeting everyone with a lovely “Hey guys!”

“Hey Katie! How’s your mum?” greeted Duncan, after swallowing his mashed potatoes.

The girl smiled widely, lighting up her deep blue eyes “Better thanks, I’m just glad Director Yean allowed me to go see her for a few days.” Looking around, she added “Have you seen Chris? I can’t seem to find him anywhere, I thought he would be with you.”

They all looked down, a bit embarrassed. Lewis finally admitted “He’s in Yean’s office.”

Katie’s smile fell right away “What? Is he okay? What happened?”

They filled her in and as Lewis finished the last details, Trott walked through the cafeteria, trying to ignore the insistent looks and whispers from other students as he made his way to his friends’ table. He looked morose but his face lighted up when he saw his girlfriend. Katie, however didn’t seem happy at all.

“I leave for three days and you start throwing punches at people?” She shot at him, furrowing her brows as he arrived at their table.

“I’m sorry.” He said simply as he took her in his arms.

Katie softened under his touch and buried her head in the crook of her boyfriend’s neck and stroking calmly his hair, she asked with a soft voice, muffled by Trott’s hoodie. “What did he say?”

They all look at Trott when he broke the embrace and dropped his gaze.

“No powers for 3 weeks. A week of detention. He also called my parents.” He said, scratching his forearm nervously.

 Everyone at the table sighed and Ross asked “What about Kim?”

“I don’t know. They were still talking when he allowed me to left. But it’s gonna be bad.” The entire group nodded, except for Ross, confused. The short brunet added to his attention. “Kim is not allowed to use her powers outside class.”

“For good reasons.” remarked Simon as the bell rang, announcing the beginning of the afternoon classes.

 

The moment Ross dreaded all week finally came. The last class of the day was the weekly meet up where the students showed their weekly progress to the teacher, Mrs Barnes, a tall and strong black woman, with dark hair knot in a tight bun at the back of her head. She called the students name by name, commenting as the teenagers demonstrated their different abilities in front of her. Ross gasped as he saw a young man with short dark haired and dressed with purple and black clothes suddenly disappeared to pop up a second after behind his classmates, before teleporting back to the front of the room, posing on the teacher’s table.

Ross had to retain from clapping his hands excitedly, forgetting for a moment his nervous state as the boy sat back among the other students just in front of Ross and Trott.

“Pff, you’re such show-off, Rythian.” teased Trott, shoving the boy in the shoulder

The boy snapped his head to the speedster and after flipping him off, he added in a shush voice “I’m not the one who made a damn show in the corridors this morning, Trott.”

Before the brunet had the time to reply, Mrs Barnes called the next student. “Ross Hornby”

Ross’ stomach dropped and Simon had to pushed him a bit in the back before he finally stood up, shaking like crazy. He walked to the front of the room, tripping several times on other students on his way. Once in front of the teacher, Ross’ only wish was to disappear in the ground and heart hammering in his chest, he barely heard Mrs Barnes when she talked to him.

“Ah Yes. Director Yean told me about you, water manipulation right?”

Ross nodded, trying to swallow the lump in his throat.

“What can you do so far?” she asked with dark grey eyes that seemed to pierce Ross’ body to his bones.

“I… I don’t know. I never really used them on purpose.” He mumbled, blushing and earning him a few laughs from his classmates.

She nodded, the side of her mouth twitching in what Ross could have sworn was an amused smile

“Okay, let’s start small then.” She poured water from her bottle in a glass and set it on a table, in front of Ross. The dark haired man looked back at his friends, unsure and Trott shoot him double thumbs up. He swallowed loudly and turned back to fixed at the glass, Mrs Barnes looking at him expectantly.

Ross never felt more stupid in his life that at this very moment, watching the glass of water, completely clueless. “I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.” he admitted after a movement in a low voice, as once more the students fell in a fit of laugher. The teacher shushed them, silence instantly falling in the room. She turned to Ross and explained.

“Close your eyes, take a few deep breaths and clear your mind. Once you ready, open your eyes and focus on the water. Try to feel it.”

Ross obeyed and focused as much as he could, frowning in the process and even raising his hands towards the glass, shaking slightly.  Nothing was happening. The students became to whisper behind him, breaking his concentration. Finally, he dropped his shoulders in defeat and sighed heavily. He really sucked at this.

Mrs Barnes insisted “Don’t give up so soon. Try again. And remember, it’s all in the breathing.”

Visual memory took over at her words and Ross’ stomach flipped when he saw a tall redhead giving him the same advice a few days ago. Shaking his head, pushing the thought of Smith far in his brain, he focused again. What was he supposed to do? Try to feel the water she said. How? He suddenly flinched when he saw the water tremble slightly. Did he just do that? The water moved again. He squinted his eyes and the glass went suddenly flying across the training room to smash against a wall.

Ross jumped and cheeks flushed, he blurted while all the class started laughing. “I…I’m sorry. I didn’t …”

Mrs Barnes was not laughing at all “Don’t worry Ross, it’s not your doing.” She turned to the students behind her and said loud enough to cover the laughers. “M. Brindley, you seem very eager to show your progress today, so why don’t come here to share with the class."

Lewis stopped laughing, and a bit flustered to have been caught, he stood up and walked towards the front of the room. As he crossed Ross’ path, he whispered with a small smile “Sorry man, I just couldn’t resist.”

Ross shrugged and laughed nervously “It’s fine.”  And the dark haired man went to sit down next to Trott, who asked quickly “Are you okay?”

“Yeah. Yeah. I just never felt more stupid in my entire life.”

Mrs Barnes shushed the class before Trott was able to say anything and the brunet just padded awkwardly Ross’ shoulder, before turning his attention back to the front of the room. Ross noticed the deep change in Lewis’ features, reflecting a deep concentration when he was laughing heartedly a few moments before. The short haired brunet closed in eyes and raising his arms in front of him, he directed his palms towards the teacher.

Very slowly, Mrs Barnes started to ascend above the ground, levitating higher and higher. To Ross’ surprise she started to smile, looking very content and nodding approvingly. The dark haired boy looked in amazement the teacher starting to rotate on herself and he gasped when suddenly, her skin turned in a shiny metallic grey and her body changed into solid metal, her clothes tensing around her new form. Lewis shut his eyes open and gasped, arms dropping as Mrs Barnes catch herself heavily on her two feet, making the ground tremble. She quickly turned back into her normal form and said in a very calm voice “Not bad Mr Brindley, not bad at all. You maybe need to start working with heavier objects from now on.” She finally smiled at a breathless Lewis and the brunet didn’t bother to hide his wide grin as he went to sat back behind Ross. 

The bell rang and the students stood up, chattering excitedly around Ross. His stomach dropped when he heard Mrs Barnes calling him. “Mr Hornby. A word please?”

Ross looked at Trott who quickly shrugged and the dark haired man nervously cut his way against the flow of students leaving the training room. Mrs Barnes looked at him and smiled softly.

“Don’t let today’s class bring you down, Mr Hornby. The beginning is always very difficult but with some patience and practice I’m sure you will be able to conjure your powers on your own accord.” She added, furrowing her brows the slightest. “Control is the most important and valuable thing for a powered person.”

Ross nodded, and a bit flustered, he asked “What can I do to practice?

“Try the same exercise as today, with the glass of water. Breathe, empty your mind and focus solely on making the liquid move. It’s not something I can clearly explain, you have to feel it for yourself to understand.” She smiled again. “Everyone starts with baby steps, Mr Hornby. You sure have a lot to learn, but don’t give up at the first obstacle.”

 

 

After his discussion with Mrs Barnes, he found Trott waiting for him outside the training room. 

“Everything alright?” the brunet quickly asked.

“Yeah. She just advised me to practice and try to trigger my powers.” replied Ross, sighing as remember his stinging failure in front of the all class.

“Don’t worry. I’m sure you will manage it in no time.” Trott shoot him a confident smile and Ross felt a bit better. As his teacher said, he just needed to practice.

“I’m gonna go see Sjin at the infirmary after dinner. To apologize.” said Trott as they wandered back to the dormitories to drop their bags.

“Do you need me to come with you?” proposed Ross, with a sympathetic look.

The brunet shook his head, a glimpse of a smile on his lips. “Thanks. But I need to do this alone.”


	4. Chapter 4

After abandoning his friends in the sitting room, Trott made his way to the infirmary and found Sjin sound asleep on one of the several beds aligned in the room. Trott sighed, relieved as he saw the bearded man’s face, no bruises to be seen anymore, resting on a fluffy pillow and the brunet’s stomach twitched with a twinge of guilt. Shaking his head, his eyes found a tall form, wearing a baseball cap and a grey hoodie sat on a chair next to the bed.

He recognized the man right away. “Sips?”

The tall figure turned on his chair and smiled when he saw the speedster standing awkwardly a few feet away from him.

“Hey Trott.” He gestured lazily towards Sjin when he added “I was on my way back when I heard.”

Trott asked, taking a few rapid steps forwards. “Where were you this time?”

Sips looked at him, frowning “Trott I can’t…”

“You can’t talk about your secret missions for the director. I know. I know. You can’t blame a guy for trying though.” smiled the short brunet apologetically.

With a shrug, Sips turned back to watch Sjin, still deeply asleep, his steady breath being the only sound in the room for a few seconds.

“I guess you know what happened.” Finally said Trott, swallowing the lump in his throat and scratching his forearm nervously.

Sips took a moment to reply, leaning forward in his chair, eyes fixed on Sjin’s laid form “Turps filled me in, yeah.” He rubbed his forehead, pushing the baseball cap on the back of his head and putting it back in place before asking in a strain voice “How could you have done that?”

Trott tensed right away and answered sharply “I was defending my friend.”

“Sjin was your friend too not so long ago.” pointed out Sips, ignoring the change in Trott’s stand.

“And Smith was yours as I recall.” snarled the short brunet, clenching his fists.

The tall man finally looked up at Trott and said, a disillusioned smile distorting his features “I guess we both lost friends in this."

Trott frowned “It was different Sips, and you know it! Sjin made you to choose between your relationship with him and your friendship with Smith. Smith never asked any of this.”

“Look I understand why you protecting him..” started Sips.

“I don’t recall asking for protection.” A voice suddenly echoed in the infirmary, interrupting the tall man and making him jumped out of his chair, and clenching his fists he quickly changed into a humanoid form seemed to be made out of solid dirt.

“Jeez Sips, a bit on edge are we?” smirked the redhead as he took a few steps inside the room.

“Sorry Smith.” Sips said in a deep rumbling voice and he shook his head, swiftly transforming back to his normal form. “It’s a reflex I picked up in the outside world. Always be ready.”

“Yeah, you’re a real boy scout.” snapped Alex, crossing his arms on his chest.

Trott quickly asked his friend as he saw Sips tensed slightly “What are you doing here? We haven’t seen you in days.”

Alex shrugged “I came to check up on Sjin, I heard what happened.” He smirked, looking at his shorter friend “Nice job, by the way Trott.”

The speedster quickly protested “I was defending you!”

“I already told you. I don’t need your pity.” spat Alex, his smirk wiped out of his face.      

Sjin moved and groaned in his sleep, interrupting the heated conversation.

“Guys, it’s neither the time nor the place for this.” declared Sips and he turned to Trott “Look, I will tell him you stopped by.”

Smith was already walking back towards the infirmary door as Trott nodded and turned to follow him.

“Smiffy…” Alex stopped at the doorway when he heard Sips’ call, but refused to face him. The tall man continued anyway, with a sad smile “It was good to see you.”

Trott clearly saw the drop of Alex’s shoulders before the redhead walked away without a word. Heart clenching in his chest, Trott took one last look at Sips and conceded him a quick wave before he went after his friend.

 

The speedster caught up with Alex in front of his bedroom.

“Smith, wait!”

The redhead turned around and faced Trott, looking down on him. “Are you going to punch me if I ignore you?”

Not intimated by the definite height difference between them, Trott hissed “I’m not gonna fight you, Smith.”

“Too bad.” Alex smirked and entered his room. Trott followed him decidedly and closed the door behind him. He looked around the room, and even he was used to the coldness of it by now, black steel walls and almost no personal effects, it didn’t mean he liked it. He knew, if it were for him, it would have driven him crazy. No comfortable couches and chairs, no bright colored rooms like the dorms he was sharing with his friends. It just didn’t feel … homie.

Nothing had much change over the years, but Trott remembered it had taken a long time for the room to be made fireproof. Ultimately it had been worth it if it meant Smith had no way to accidently set the mansion on fire.

The only thing really standing out besides the bed against the wall (a simple mattress settled on a steel framework) and the small window (only source of daylight usually, but black as the void in the late evening) was a big TV, accompanied by an Xbox and a large pile of video games. Some boxes were open, discarded on the floor while two controllers were set down lazily on the floor.

Trott focused on his friend again while the redhead settled on his bed, back at the wall, head resting on his arms, crossed over his folded knees.

The smaller man hesitated a moment, flicking his fringe back wth his fingers and asked carefully “Are you okay? It couldn’t have been easy. Seeing Sips again I mean.”

Alex let escape a sharp laugh, nothing happy about it and grunted from behind his knees. “I told you I don’t need your pity.”

“It’s not pity!”  exclaimed Trott loudly. He breathed out before continuing with a lower voice “I’m worried about you, that’s what friends do, Smith. They worried when you don’t show up for days. They worried when they know you’re going through bad times alone. They… ” His voice peaked a little at the end, making Alex looked up at him. Trott took a big breath before adding with a little smile “They try to help you even if you’re being a stubborn twat about it.”

Alex chuckled, but lightly this time and it immediately broke the building tension in the room “You’re the stubborn twat.”

“Let’s say we both are.” replied his friend with a relieved smile and they laughed together, before Alex pat the bed next to him, inviting Trott to sit. Once his friend settled, the redhead asked.

“So what happened with Sjin anyway?”

Trott shrugged while scratching his forearm again. “He said some stuff about you. Not really nice stuff. I didn’t even know he was behind me, or I wouldn’t have mentioned you. But Ross asked about you and…”

Alex interrupted him, eyes suddenly wider than before “Ross? Ross Hornby?”

“Yes. So you’ve met him.” said Trott, not so much as a question than a fact. Alex snapped his head, blushing very lightly. It was so imperceptible that Trott almost missed it. But he knew his friend too well. He smiled and continued like he hadn’t noticed. “Yeah, Ross Hornby. Really nice guy. Smart too. Sure he’s a bit lost and he has no idea what is doing here most of the time. But I guess it always like that at the beginning.” The speedster smiled fondly, remembering his first weeks at the school. He was a lot younger than Ross back then but at least he knew a lot about this world already. Ross was totally new to everything and Trott admitted to himself it couldn’t be easy for the poor boy. In front of Alex’s silence, he continued “He has trouble with his powers, he can’t seem to make them work.”

Alex chuckled again, surprising his friend “Oh I saw his powers. He made the entire pool bubbled like a bloody hot tub. Not on purpose of course but it was still pretty impressive.” He suddenly frowned when he saw the amused smile of the speedster’s face and added quickly. “But I only met him once, so I don’t know much else.”

Trott smiled grew wider before he said “Well, anyway. Tomorrow is Saturday and we were thinking about hanging out in the gardens in the afternoon, if you want to join us…”  Trott added with very poorly faked nonchalance “Ross will be here.”

Alex got up of the bed, suddenly and started pacing, running a hand through his hair. Avoiding Trott eye’s, he grunted “I have to see Dr Carter in the afternoon.”

“Okay. So after maybe?” insisted Trott, hopeful but he tensed again in front of his friend’s change of behavior. Alex was closing again in front of him and he sighed when he heard the redhead’s answer.

“I don’t know, Trott.”  mumbled Alex, a lump forming in his throat and heart beating suddenly faster. He jumped when his friend groaned and lounged off the bed. He watched Trott, walking up fast to the door and grabbing the door knob, obviously mad. He swallowed, waiting for his friend to talk.

Trott looked at him, eyes so piercing that it made the redhead look away “For the millionth time I said this, I won’t pretend that I know exactly how you are feeling but I know you think you don’t deserve to be happy, but you do, Smith. Okay? You should give yourself a chance for once.” And the speedster opened the door and slammed it behind him.

Alex sagged against the door frame, dragging a hand through his hair and pulling at it until it stung him. The little bit of pain was grounding and helped him keep calm.

 

 

Ross’ Saturday morning had been pretty uneventful so far and all his thoughts were directed to the appointment he was supposed to have with Director Yean right before lunch. He hadn’t been able to see the man during the week and was really looking forward talking to him, he had a lot of questions and even if Trott and his friends had some answers about his powers and the problems he had with them, he felt only the director would help him see clearer. As the bell rang, he almost jogged to Yean’s office and waited patiently. The Director opened the door with a warm smile and welcomed him inside. While Ross settled in front of him and accepted his offer for tea, the Director asked him about his first week. He clearly knew  everything that happened to Ross during the last few days and explained after Ross questioned him about it, that he always followed all of his students very carefully, specially the new ones.

“I heard you got yourself in the middle of a fight?” He inquired with a smile, giving Ross his cup of tea.

“More on the sidelines, Sir.” Ross agreed, nodding to thank him.

Yean walked around his desk, settled very graciously on his chair and laid back, crossing his legs, a living portrait of confidence and nonchalance at the same time. “I see. I guess every school has its own dramas, but that was one turn of event I didn’t see coming.” He raised an eyebrow for a second before leaning forward on his desk  “As you spent a lot of time with Mr Trott this week, you were able to see that he’s not a angry person. Maybe simply a little too quick to act.” He laughed softly.

“Yes. I saw that.” Ross smiled, but quickly remembered why he was here “Sir, about my powers…”

“Ah yes, you had some problems in Mrs Barnes’ class yesterday.” commented Yean, watching him intensely.  Ross nodded, embarrassed. “To be honest, we don’t expect from you to be able to trigger and perfectly control your powers in few days, Ross. It usually take years to perfect it.”

Ross sighed and asked with a pleading voice “I know but can’t anything help?”

“Practice.” The tall man said and seeing Ross’ disappointed face, he added with a smile “And patience. You have nothing to prove, Ross. Nobody is asking you to be able to master your powers on your first try. Take your time and it will happen eventually.”

Of course. He knew that. Bloody everyone had told him already, to practice and to be patient. He was expecting that Yean maybe had a different take on this, a miracle solution to help him. Apparently not.

Yean continued. “Furthermore, we don’t have any idea of the extent of your powers. The only thing we know for sure is they are connected to water. But water manipulation or hydro genesis, whatever you want to call it, can include a wide range of abilities. From what you told me of your “experiences”, you seemed to be able to manipulate water as a whole. But would you be able to isolate or shape water. Or any other liquid. Changed its state, to gas or solid. Or even generate it from within you. Maybe everything at the same time.”

Ross gulped. He hadn’t really thought about the proportions of his powers, what he could really do with them. How cool would it be to create water, or to change it to ice? The applications seemed infinite for any ability. And suddenly he found himself very excited and motivated to discover his limits, if he could ever trigger his bloody powers properly. He suddenly realized than Yean was still talking to him so he tried to focus on the director’s voice, but still boiling with excitation on the inside.

“As it is the end of your first week, from Monday you’ll be appointed a handler. A person who will be here to help you during your time at the school, if you want. One of the teachers will follow your progress and life here closely and help you in any way he or she can, or not, but it’s a two way relationship. If you have any questions or problems, powers related or not, their the person to see. Also I would like you to have a chat with Dr Carter this afternoon, talking with him is an important process for choosing the best suited handler for you. His opinion is highly valuable for me and I’m sure it will be very benefic for you as well.”

“Yes, of course.” nodded Ross as he tried to maintain a enthusiastic smile. He had guess he would have to talk to the shrink eventually, but he never though it would be like a test for him, one which very well could influence his all future. And suddenly, he felt a bit anxious about meeting this Carter guy,  who Yean had described after all, as one of the smartest person he knew. It had to be something.

The director seemed pleased with his answer though as he approved with a slight nod of his head. “Good. He will see you this afternoon at 2 then.” Yean opened a red file in front of him and flipped through some pages. Ross leaned forward very slightly and noticed his name of top of one of the pages. Yean looked up to him and asked “So, apart from your powers, how is your life here? You clearly have some new friends already and you seemed to be doing very well in class.”

Ross ran his palms on his jeans and thought about his week. Beside the altercation in the hallway or the few times he had jumped in front of others people abilities, Ross had been really calm about it. Frankly, he was surprised he hadn’t had a major freak out about it yet. Because how crazy was his life right now really? He was in a freaking special school for people with powers and he could manipulate water for god’s sakes. His friends could run at the speed of sound or manipulate objects with their mind. Or shrieking size . He remembered how he almost choke on his chicken when Simon disappeared from the seat in front of him only to climb on the table and started to sing and dance, not taller than Ross’ bottle of water accompanied by the claps and laughs of his friends. A small smile tugging as his lips, Ross simply said “Yes, the school is great. Everyone is very nice here.”

Yean smiled back at him and closed the file. Laying back on his chair, he started playing absently with the gold ring with a ruby stone on his right hand, that Ross had never noticed before and the director asked “Did you talk to your parents since you got here?”

Ross nodded, his smile faltering. He tore his gaze away from Yean’s ring to look down and stayed silent. He had called his mother on his second day of school. She had been worried about him of course but had Ross felt a distance between them, almost imperceptible but there nonetheless. Before his accident, the three of them had a great relationship based on love and trust. It seems cliché, but he had a great childhood and being an only child, he had been his mother’s sweetheart. As Ross had been very good in school, part of the high school’s swimming team, a brilliant future as a professional athlete ahead of him, he had always made his father very proud. But now that everything changed, his father’s reaction was still the hardest blow he received since he discovered his powers. The man had flat out refuse to talk to him on the phone and his mother explained Ross he had not taken very well the fact he had a mutant in his family and for her husband the best way to deal with it was just ignoring the problem. Ross had flinched at the words. Was it what he had become now?  A problem which have to be dealt with it. Or ignored on his father’s case. The dirty little secret his parents had to keep from their neighbours and friends in order to protect their spotless reputation.

Yean’s voice resonated in his mind. “Ross?”

The young man shook his head and sat straighter in his chair. “Sorry. It’s just… my father. He didn’t take the news very well I’m afraid.” he admitted with a sad smile.

Yean sighed. “Ah yes. He seemed really in shock when I spoke to him. I would like to tell you he’ll probably come around but…” The loud ringtone of his phone desk suddenly interrupted him mid-sentence and after a look at the number, he frowned and declared quickly.

“My apologies Ross but I have to take this.” He smiled while picking up the phone and said in a deep assured voice “Yean?”

His smile fell as he listened to his caller. He sat straight up and his grip tensed on his chair. “Are you sure?”

Ross frowned, holding his breath as he tried to hear the voice as the other end of the phone. He couldn’t make out the words but the person was clearly agitated.

Yean nodded to himself and said calmly. “I see.” Yean looked up and crossed his eyes with Ross who managed an awkward cough and looked at the window behind the director, suddenly very interested by whatever the hell was happening outside. Not much as it appeared, the sun was shining high and there were no clouds in the sky at the exception of one small patch which vaguely looked like a wolf’s head, thought Ross.

In the background, Yean’s discussion with the mystery caller kept going “Yes, he’s here. He came back yesterday.” Ross looked back at the director when he suddenly raised his voice.

“No, absolutely not. Not without back up. Stay where you are and don’t expose yourself.”

Ross frowned at the words and even more so when he heard the next.

“I’ll send Chris to you. He’ll leave in the hour. Be safe.” Yean hanged up and stood on his feet, pushing his chair away and walking around his desk.

No. Trott couldn’t leave. He was his closest friend here. Where was he going? Ross stood as well and asked quickly, worry evident in his voice. “You’re sending Trott away?”

Yean stopped and turned to look at him, frowning. “What? Oh no, it’s a different Chris. Don’t worry about it.” He said with tone he wanted reassuring, but Ross noticed his smile was slightly tense and his deep green eyes were not as warm as before.

The director walked to the door and apologized to Ross “I’m really sorry but I have to end our meeting here. Something came up and must be dealt with swiftly.” The dark haired boy took his cue and left the office. “Don’t forget your appointment with Dr Carter this afternoon, it’s really important.” Yean added while closing the door behind him and with a last nod, he quickly walked towards the mansion’s entrance.

Ross, after taking a look at his watch, made his way towards the cafeteria to meet his friend for lunch. Something happened and it looked bad. Bad enough to worry Yean and interrupt their meeting. And Ross couldn’t wait to share his thoughts on the matter with his new friends.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m aware that Lewis and Hannah broke up but I decided not to change anything on the fic if that’s okay with you. Also lots of talking in this one but some things are finally kicking off. As always don’t hesitate to tell me what you think. Enjoy :)

Ross found Duncan and Simon at their usual table. They told him Trott’s parents showed up at the school and took him for lunch. Ross immediately worried about his friend, he didn’t know Trott’s parents but he hoped they wouldn’t be too mad at him for what happened with Sjin. Sighing, he decided to keep what he heard in Yean’s office for himself, for now at least and instead he asked his two friends about Dr Carter. Simon seemed very enthusiastic about the man and had nothing but compliments and reassurances to give him but Duncan was definitely more careful with his words.

He trusted machines more than people, because machines don’t lie as he said. He had run away from a violent home at only 13, managing to survive and provide for himself thanks to his powers. As a cyberkinesist, he could manipulate technology and technological constructs such as computers or ATMs, as he found out quickly. Robbing banks blind without ever using violence was fun for a while, until he get bored and his faculties pushed him to hack different governmental agencies at only 15, running away from the police, Yean found him in Manchester. The man convinced him to come back to the school with him, offering immunity and a stable home. At now 19, Duncan seemed adjusted to the life at the school but kept his mistrust for people very close to his heart. So really Ross wasn’t that surprised when Duncan said, readjusting his glasses on his nose.

“Sure he’s good at his job. If you mean making you talk without you noticing. And the suspicious insistence in trying to become your best friend.” The blond squinted his eyes, and took a bite at his piece of bread. After swallowing the food, and giving a quick glance around him, he continued in a low voice “My advice, tell him what he wants to hear and be done with it.”

Ross nodded seriously to him, trying to hide his amused smile when Simon rolled his eyes in exaggeration.

 

 

Stopping first by his dorm to drop his bag, Ross made his way to the counselor’s office, slightly nervous. Even if he was early, he didn’t had to wait for too long as the door suddenly opened on a tall man, completely bold but harboring a nicely cut beard, as dark as his eyes. His face was framed by black square glasses, very professional. And very expensive surely, noted Ross in his head. Probably the same goes for the white shirt and black suit trousers he was wearing.

“Mr Hornby I suppose?” inquired Dr Carter with a deep voice. Ross nodded shyly, impressed by the man’s appearance. To be honest, he was expecting some affable guy, with a patched vest and corduroy trousers. But maybe was he watching too many movies. “Nice to meet you, I’m Dr Carter. Is it okay if I call you Ross?”  He extended a large hand to him.

“I guess so.” replied Ross as he shook firmly the offered hand and entered the office. Dr Carter closed the door behind them and went to sit on a black and silver chair, elegant and modern. That were truly the first two words coming to Ross’ minds after having a quick look at the counselor’s office. Glass desk and glass shelves, office furniture’s coming straight from an architectural magazine. The only note of color was the green fig tree sitting on the corner of the room.

“Good. Good. Have a seat. Please.” Dr Carter showed the identical chair in front of his and Ross He was glad to notice the chair was more comfortable that he first thought. He remembered Duncan’s words while he sat down when Dr Carter said with a somewhat forced chuckle “So powers huh? Must have been a shock.” The man seemed eager to please, eyes piercing but smile almost too bright.

Ross tensed, he wasn’t exactly sure why, but the man was making him uncomfortable. He answered maybe a bit more sharply than intended “Considering they appeared when I was drowning. Yeah we can say that.”

“So they saved your life.” deadpanned Dr Carter, grabbing a notepad and a silver cartridge pen from a small glass table next to his chair. Crossing his legs, he took off the cap of his pen.

The comment took Ross by surprise and he mumbled “I… I never thought about it this way. But yes I guess.” Dr Carter nodded and took notes on the thick writing pad settled on his laps. Ross raised an amused eyebrow “Straight into shrink mode, right?”

“Well, it is my job here, Ross.” replied Dr Carter, still writing but not adding anything. Ross wondered briefly if it was a way to throw people off, or make them talk to break the heavy silence settling between them. Ross waited patiently, sitting back comfortably in his chair and looking around. There were no personal items on the desk or shelves, no pictures, just paintings on the walls and elegant sculptures on the shelves, along with plenty of books. He snapped his head back at the sound of Dr Carter finally putting his pen down. The other man looked up at him with a reassuring smile “So you were on your school swimming team. And quite brilliant of what I heard. Do you wish to make it your career or is it just a hobby for you?”

Ross shrugged “I _had_  plans to make it professionally, yes. But now…” He wave loosely with his hand, gesturing to the walls around him.

“This future is not compromised by your powers, Ross.” stated the counselor very seriously “You won’t stay forever at the school. Once you managed to understand your powers and control them, you will be able to go on with your life.”

“What? Like nothing ever happened?” asked Ross, incredulous.

Putting his hands on his pen and notepad to prevent them for falling down as he sat straighter in his chair, Dr Carter answered “Not exactly, there are rules to follow if you choose to leave the school. You can’t expose your powers to the outside world. Or use them to commit a crime. Or also…”

Ross nodded slowly to himself as Dr Carter’s words made his way to his mind. He interrupted the other man “Wait. What do you mean … if I choose to leave the school?”

The man in front of him smiled and replied “Well, you will always be welcome to stay here of course. You will be able join our teaching staff or help Mr Yean in some of his work.”

“His work as a school director?” implied Ross, sceptical.

“A school for powered people, Ross.” reminded him Dr Carter. “It’s a heavy responsibility and a lot of hard work. In addition to his work here, he deals with the new breakouts, kids having to deal for their powers for the first time, like it happened with you. In that case, Yean advised the parents to place the young mutant here at the school for him to learn about his powers and control them. But he also tries to find other mutants all over the country and help them if he can. Or keep an eye on some of them.”

Ross frowned, fidgeting on his chair as he remembered the phone call from this morning. Was he talking to another mutant, or someone looking for one? With a nervous smile, he dared “Keep an eye on them? You mean spy on them?”

Carter twitched imperceptibly on his chair and looked a moment at Ross, increasing the young man’s nervousness. He finally answered, a tense smile pulling at his lips “Yes. He works closely with the government for this part.”

“The government knows about this?” Ross asked in surprise.

The other man leaned forward on his chair, a tense smile still plastered on his face “Well of course, Ross. There is a special branch in the government for mutants. The OCPP. Organization Center for Powered People. Composed half with mutants and half with government agents. They deal primarily with mutants’ regulation, but sometimes they can be sent on …. delicate missions. When the government deems their powers to be helpful.” Extremely curious on the subject, Ross wanted to ask more questions but Carter was apparently done with the conversation as he suddenly said “But enough of this, we are here to talk about you after all. So how was your first week here?”

Ross sighed and started to talk flatly about his last few days, telling the man – almost – everything that happened since he learned about his powers.

After a moment that felt like hours for Ross, Carter took a final look at his notes and seemed pleased with what he had. He closed his pen and put back his notepad back on the small glass table. “Good. Good. That would be all for now, Ross. Coming to see me is not mandatory for you. For now at least.” He added with a strange smile as he stood up “But my door is always open if you need a chat.”

Ross nodded and took his cue, following the man to the door. He quickly got out of the office and took a big breath as he heard the door closing behind him, glad it was finally over.

 

 

He was surprised to find Alex, sitting on a bench just outside the office, the young man leaned forward and staring at the floor, obliviously lost in deep thoughts.

A large smile pulling at his lips, Ross greeted the redhead “Hey.”

Alex looked up, surprise obvious on his face and he jumped on his feet “Oh hi. Ross, right?”

“Yeah. And you’re Alex Smith.” Alex nodded “It’s nice to finally be introduced properly.” Ross, smile still bright, extended a hand to him. After a hesitation, Alex took it and they shook hands awkwardly and a bit longer than necessary, but Alex found himself not bothered at all, too caught up in Ross‘ soft gaze. Ross continued “Your friends told me a lot about you.”

“Really?” Alex frowned, suddenly worried but he didn’t had time to ask anything as Dr Carter’s head popped up at the door frame and called for him.

Alex turned to the psychologist and quickly “Coming Doc.” before realizing he was still holding Ross’ hand. Cheeks burning, he dropped his own hand to his side and giving an apologetic smile at Ross, he said quickly “Sorry, I have to go.”

“Of course. It was nice to see you again. Smith.” And the dark haired man, with one last smile to the redhead, left.

After watching Ross walk away for a few seconds, Alex shook his head and entered Dr Carter’s office, letting himself fall on the chair.

Dr Carter, already sat in his own chair, looked at him with a bemused expression “New friend?”

Alex explained with a quick shrug “Oh it was just Ross. He’s new here and… you probably know that already since he just left your office.”

“I take it it’s not the first time you've met him.” Carter stated, grabbing his notepad and pen.

“No.” answered simply Alex and Dr Carter stayed silent. Alex leaned forward and looked down, stroking his palms on his jeans “I met him a few days ago during my midnight stroll. He was at the pool.”

“In the middle of the night?”

Alex shrugged again, leaning back on his chair “Yeah. He had trouble sleeping I guess. Anyway he kinda freaked out when he saw me and transformed the pool into a hot tub.” He smiled at the memory and Dr Carter screwed his eyes, focusing on his patient’s features as Alex continued “We talked about our powers, like it was all new to him, he was very curious and he seemed… impressed by what I could do. … And not afraid at all.” His voice trailed off at the end and he swallowed the lump slowly forming in his throat.

“You showed him your powers?” asked Dr Carter in surprise. Alex nodded quickly, avoiding his gaze. They both knew it was a bigger deal than Alex pretended it to be and the young man was relieved when Dr Carter seemed to drop the subject.

“You’ve been locked up in your room for a week now, Alex.” commented the other man.

“I know.” sighed Alex, avoiding again the counselor’s gaze one him and running a hand through his hair before replying “It’s just safer for everyone if I’m not around.”

The counsellor leaned forward “Did you have any close call with your powers?”

Alex shook his head and admitted “No, not really. Just the usual heating up.”

Carter nodded and wrote something on his notepad while he asked “And you were able to calm yourself easily?”

Alex swallowed “Yes.” He bit his lips when he felt hot prickling behind his eyes.

Dr Carter gave him a reassuring smile “Good. You are in control, Alex. This is progress.” But he frowned when he saw the young man’s lower lip trembling and Alex quickly wiping out his eyes. Taking off his glasses to quickly rub the bridge of his nose, he sighed “I know this is not an easy time for you, I really wished you let your friends help you.”

“Yeah, right. Last time I did that I almost killed my best friend if you remember.” grunted Alex, leaning forward on his elbows to stare at the carpeted floor.

Alex knew Dr Carter would assure him again it was an accident. That it wasn’t his fault. That Trott was still his friend, like he told him every time they were mentioning the incident. But instead, the other man surprised him by saying.

“What about Mr Hornby?”

Alex flicked his eyes back to Dr Carter, not sure where the man was going with that “Ross? What about him?”

Carter put his glasses back on “You used your powers in front of him. Weren’t you afraid of hurting him then?”

Alex opened and closed his mouth several times before frowning  “I … didn’t really think about it.”

“I see.”

Alex rolled his eyes and asked through greeted teeth “Oh and what it is you seeing exactly, Doc?”

The man in front of him was probably the person who knew him the better. Five years of weekly appointments would do that and it had been a long time since Alex’s attendance hadn’t been mandatory anymore. He had just kept coming to see him and for Alex, Dr Carter had been the reason he hadn’t lost his mind yet. He wouldn’t exactly say the doc was his mentor, they didn’t had that kind of relationship really but he knew Alex, every piece of him, every fear, every hope he had. And if most of the times, Alex was glad about it, right now he started to regret ever mentioning his encounter with Ross.

“You spend time with him, you talked. You didn’t push him away. Why is that?”

Alex sank on his chair and running once more a nervous hand through his auburn curls, he stuttered “I’m not sure, I guess I felt …” He paused and breathed out before confessing quickly to the man on front of him, pointedly ignoring his piercing look “He was nice… and he didn’t know me, who I was, what I did. It was … easy, being with him.”

Dr Carter leaned back on his chair before asking “And you think he would see you differently if he knew?”

Alex snapped his head back to the counselor and cried with a hoarse voice “Of course.”

“But your friends don’t. They still worry about you. They still love you.” The man claimed and he sighed softly when he suddenly saw Alex’s silent tears running down his face before the young man hide his head behind his hands “Because they know who you are, Alex. And it’s not the monster you picturing yourself to be.” concluded Dr Carter with a reassuring smile and reaching for a boxes of tissues on his desk before handing it to the redhead.

Alex sniffed and thanked him but declined the tissues before wiping his eyes with the back of his hands.  He looked up to Dr Carter when the man stood up and added “And I think you should give Mr Hornby some credit. He seems to be a smart young man, very capable of making his own choices.” He walked around his desk, putting back the box of tissues on it and turning to the window behind him. Opening it swiftly and leaving the still hot October’s air brushing his face for a few seconds, he turned back to Alex “So maybe give him a chance before pushing him away.”

“You sound like Trott.” Alex crossed his arms on his chest and snorted, smiling nonetheless.

Dr Carter laughed shortly, returning Alex’s smile “Well, maybe you should listen to Mr Trott a bit more often.”

When Alex left Dr Carter’s office, he felt infinitely better. Smiling, he congratulated himself on his decision to come to his appointment, as he was previously tempted to skip it and stay in his room. Taking a big breath and feeling a surge of sudden confidence, and after only a slight hesitation, he walked towards the gardens.

 

 

He quickly found his friends between the few other groups of students enjoying the warm sun of the Saturday afternoon. He approached them slowly, mind racing and confidence melting like an ice cube left too long in the sun. The closer he was getting, the more unsure he became about his idea of joining them. 

He saw Kim, the short brunette talking excitedly, gesturing her hands in big movements. Simon was listening intensely to her and trying to push away the stone that Lewis was levitating playfully in front of his eyes to distract him. Alex smiled when he saw Hannah suddenly punching Lewis in the shoulder, the teen dropping the stone on Simon’s lap, squawking in protest as he rubbed his arm. Two boys had his back to him and he recognized the full head of black hair belonging to the Scottish teen, Nilesy and Alex gulped when he realized that the other boy was none other than Ross. To complete the circle, Trott was laying down, head on Katie’s lap as she was absently rummaging through his hair with her painted fingernails, engrossed in the conversion. Alex suddenly froze when his shorter friend noticed him, sitting straight up and his face lighting up in a huge smile.

“Smith, you came!” exclaimed Trott.

Everyone stopped talking and turned to him. “Hey guys.” He said shyly.

Kim jumped quickly on her feet and threw herself in his arms. Alex twitched slightly at the contact but smiled softly nonetheless when she said, words muffled by Alex’s shirt. “It’s so good to see you.”

When Kim finally let go of him, Simon smiled at her and then to Alex, with a nod “We really missed you, man.”

“It’s not the same without you.” added Katie with a soft smile and she complained, leaning forward to pointedly make a face at her boyfriend on her laps “And he’s definitely not the same when you’re not around.”

Before Trott was able to say anything in response, Lewis snorted “Yeah, and they all really boring compare to you.” Hannah punched him in the shoulder again. The boy jumped to the side away from his girlfriend’s reach with a whine of protest “What? It’s true! Smith is always up for a good laugh when he’s not …” Lewis stopped when he realized what he was about to say. He sat straighter and he winced awkwardly at the redhead “Sorry.”

Alex swallowed and said with a slight tremor in his voice “It’s fine. I know I haven’t been the best of friends lately.” His eyes flicked to Trott who gave him an encouraging smile as a slightly tense silence followed his words, thankfully quickly broke by Nilesy.

“We just all happy to see you, Smith. Sit down.” He and Ross moved to the side to make some room for Alex and the redhead smiled gratefully at Nilesy. He loved the Scottish boy, he was seriously the sweetest and he always knew how to defuse a situation.

But he was barely sat down on the grass when Ross leaned towards him and smiled, making his stomach flipped “Hey again.”

“Hey.” Alex replied in a breath, heart pounding and cheeks flushing lightly. Lost for a few seconds in Ross’ ice blue eyes, he missed the amused smile on Trott’s lips quickly shared with Katie above him.

Tearing himself apart from Ross’ gaze, Alex cleared his throat and ran a hand in his hair as he asked around to no one in particular “So what did I miss?”

“There’s been a new attack on London this morning. They tried to pass them as accidents again.” Kim informed him, sighing in exasperation.

“Well they can’t exactly tell on the news that a rogue faction of mutants is targeting the big city, right?” piped Lewis, leaning back on his hands and glancing swiftly to Hannah in case she wanted to throw her fists at him again.

“Do they know who did it?” inquired Alex, heart beat increasing and this time not because of the dark haired boy sat next to him.

Trott answered, a frown suddenly hardening his usually soft features “We don’t know much. But Ross heard Yean talking to my brother who was there. He also sent Sips back. He seemed really worried and Yean is almost never worried.”

Alex snapped his head to his shorter friend. Of course, he knew Trott’s older brother had chosen to stay at the school to help around but it was the first time he heard anything about Adam taking on missions for Director Yean. He cursed himself interiorly for being a shitty friend and he asked, worry stirring at the pit of his stomach “Adam was on the field? He is okay?”

Trott shrugged but his position prevented him to move his shoulders properly. He shifted slightly on Katie's laps as she started stroking his head again and he retorted quickly “Yeah, he’s fine. It was supposed to be his first mission though. Simple recon. But it appeared he stumbled into something important.”

“What did they attack?” Alex inquired even if he already knew the answer.

Katie stopped running her fingers in Trott’s hair and replied “Governmental building. My father wouldn’t confirm but probably one of the OCPP. ” Alex nodded, he knew both her parents were working for the Center and he imagined she was pretty worried about them right now.

“Maybe they didn’t like the architecture.” tried to joke Lewis but no one laughed, serious faces surrounding him in a thoughtful silence.

“I’m just gonna say what everything is thinking. What if it’s him again?” started Hannah with a nervous voice.

“You mean it happened before?” interrupted Ross, brows furrowing. “I mean I think I would have noticed if the news were talking about mutants attacking London City.”

“Government lies.” spat Lewis and, despite his current agitated state, Alex couldn’t help but the small smile pulling at his lips when he recognized Duncan’s favorite utterance “They didn’t want anyone to know they had lost control over some mutants so they covered it up. Like they are doing now.”

“I’m sure it’s not the same thing.” muttered Simon, fidgeting with his glasses “ It can’t be…”

“It’s not, he’s dead.” stated Alex bluntly.

“Allegedly.” Nilesy corrected with a low and calm voice.

Alex insisted “He’s dead. They both are.” And he believed that. He needed to believe that in order to stay sane.

“I’m sorry but who are we talking about?” asked Ross in confusion.

Without any consultation, they all watched Alex. The redhead hesitated slightly before turning to Ross with a resigned sigh.

“James Neuro. He was a powerful mutant who had telepathic powers. We don’t really know if it’s being able to read the minds of everyone around him or if he was born completely insane…” snarled Alex, pulling aggressively the grass from the ground and tearing it apart in front of him.  “but he dragged a few others powered people into his little rebellion against the government’s rules. They targeted mutants family connected to the OCPP. My …. “ He cleared his throat, avoiding Ross’ gaze. “My uncle Eddie was one of his followers. He did a lot of horrible things, including kill Sjin’s sister because their father was - is - working at the Center’s HQ.” He let go of the bits of grass, cleaning his hands on his thighs and cursing when he made a long green spot on his beige trousers. “But they have been killed.” He concluded nervously, still looking down at his hands

“If not Neuro, then who?” questioned Hannah, worries clear in her voice.

Alex shrugged “Some copycats, or maybe some of his old followers trying to continue his work.”

Lewis leaned forwards, suddenly excited “I could ask Mrs Barnes some information. I’m sure she would talk to me.”

“Teacher’s pet.” coughed Nilesy in a poor attempt to conceal his words.

“I heard that! And it’s not true. If anything I’m the troublemaker!” bragged Lewis, with an assured smirk. They all laughed loudly, Alex with them and Lewis tried to stop them from mocking him with high pitch protests, only making them laugh harder.

Catching his breath after his fit of laugher, Alex exchanged a smile with Trott and leaned back on his hand, relieved when the conversation seemed to stir towards safer territory. He laughed again when Ross made a seemingly accurate imitation of Lewis after Mrs Barnes complimented him on his powers the day before, the new boy’s knee sometimes brushing Alex’s own and making the redhead’s heart skip every single time.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Smornby chapter :)  
> Also mentions of child abuse (nothing bad but still).

Monday morning was a bitch. They had PE training outside, and even if it was not even 10 in the morning the sun was incredibly hot and the class was already sweating profusely while running laps. The least affected were Trott and Ross, the first one being used to run even without using his power and the latter being really fit because of his swimming training. On top of it all, their PE teacher, Mr Rodgers, was an ex-military guy, in his late 50, wearing cargo shorts and tank top, exposing his brown skin burned by the sun. The man kept yelling harsh words to “motivate them” as he said, with a pronounced American accent. Ross’ favourite ones so far being “Faster you slugs, my grand-mother runs faster than you!” and “I will set bears on you and you’ll see if you still slacking!” It was even worst for those trailing behind considering he could generate clones of himself who were running after you and pushed you to run faster.

The exercise seemed to take its toll on Alex, who slowed down on the edge of the track and walked towards the bench, breathing heavily. He sat down, head between his hands. Ross, who was running his overlap noticed the redhead on the side and stopped at his level.

“Are you okay?” He asked him softly.

Alex looked up and nodded with a smile he wanted reassuring, but Ross wasn't fooled, Alex’s skin was red, chest heaving and breath laboured as he took a bottle of water.

Ross brushed the back of his hand on Alex’s forehead, ignoring the way Alex flinched at the contact. His skin was sticky with sweat and worryingly hot under Ross’s knuckles. 

“You’re burning up!” The dark haired boy exclaimed, eyebrows furrowing.

“I'm fine.” Alex groaned between two gulps of the water and Ross was about to protest when a loud voice made him jump and turn.

“You’re throwing a tea party and didn't invite me, Mr Smith?” Mr Rodgers was watching them, hands crossed in his chest, a smirk plastered on his face.

Alex jumped on his feet, mumbling a “Sorry, Sir.” but Ross shot him a worried look. Alex rolled his eyes and protested “I told you, I'm fine.”

“But….” started Ross before being interrupted by Mr. Rodgers who was fixing Alex.

“Are you gonna catch on fire, son?” Ross snapped his head to the man, incredulous and shocked by the man’s bluntness, but Alex seemed used to it as he answered quickly with a shrug.

“No, Sir.”

“Good, so keep running. Go!” And Ross was surprised to see the man pat Alex’s shoulder and whisper something quickly in his ear, Alex not even flinching at the close contact. Whatever he said, it made the redhead smile and he nodded, before resuming his lap on the track. Mr Rodgers watched him go and turned to Ross, who gulped as the man stared at him.

“You’re the swimmer?”

The question took Ross by surprise and he stuttered “Wh.. what?” 

The American rolled his eyes “The Doc told me you were on the swimming team at your high school.” Ross nodded shyly and Mr Rodgers furrowed his brows “What is your time on a 100m lap?” 

Ross swallowed before answering, his voice less assured that he wanted to “One minute five.”

‘I can work with that.” The man commented, his lips twitching in what could have been a smile but faded away too quickly for Ross to be sure. “If you want to become pro later, you’re going to train with me from now on, every morning before classes. I guess you used to early training sessions?”

“Yes, Sir.” Ross nodded eagerly, actually excited at the idea of resuming his training. It would be good for him to swim on a daily basis and keep his mind occupy with something else than Alex Smith or his still evasive powers.

“Good, see you at the pool tomorrow at 6am sharp then.” said the man as he walked away towards the track. He watched over his shoulder to Ross, who was still standing near the bench, watching absently the ground with an ecstatic smile “Oh and Mr Hornby?” Ross looked at him and Mr Rodgers smirked “Stop slacking and run.”

“Yes, Sir.” Ross chuckled and shaking his head, he started running towards the track, passing the other man and resumed his lap with his others classmates.

 

The morning after, Ross woke up at 5:30 and being really careful not to wake up his roommates, he changed into his bathing suit, adding quickly a T-shirt, jeans and shoes. He grabbed a towel and his swimming goggles before closing the door softly behind him. He went to the pool with giddy steps and getting rid of his clothes, he didn't even wait for the PE teacher to arrive to start his warm ups laps in the pool. Mr Rodgers arrived 10 minutes later and the man smiled as he saw Ross already hard at work. Making his presence now with a quick whistle, he waited for Ross to join him by the side of the pool. The man explained to him his schedule for the week and the different exercises Ross would have to do, asking the boy about his past training at his former high school. They also had a quick talk about Ross’ powers, Rodgers concluding that they could always mixed their swimming training with power training once Ross would managed to trigger his water abilities. 

The American then took out a stopwatch from his shorts’ pocket, waited for Ross to put back his swimming goggles as he duplicated himself to the other side of the pool, in order to observe Ross underwater somersault at the edge. With a sharp exclamation, he started the timer and Ross plunged underwater, and resurfacing meters away, he crawled towards Rodgers’ clone. 

Ross was so ecstatic to swim again, the rush of adrenaline coursing through his veins thanks to being push to go faster, to be better. 

He quickly realized than if the PE teacher could seemed harsh at first, and if he was definitely strict, he was also very patient, soft-hearted and a good listener. In a few days, Ross already respected immensely the man and was really happy to hear from Mr Yean a few days later that Rodgers would be his handler. They were a good match and Ross felt quickly comfortable enough to talk to him about anything that troubled him. Well, everything but Alex Smith.

 

And boy, did the redhead occupy his thoughts. Ross quickly learned to read Alex’s different moods over the weeks, and with some help from Trott he knew when to leave him alone or when it was a good time to talk to him. Sometimes Alex could disappear in his room with no explanation and Ross had to retain himself no to go after him. 

“How can you be so cool about it?” The dark haired boy asked Trott one afternoon as they were watching the news about another accident -attack- in London. This time, two people had died and Alex had stormed out of the living room without a word. Ross had wanted to go after his friend but Trott hold him back and advised him to give the redhead some time alone, saying Smith would come back to them when he will be ready. And he was right. Alex reappeared the day after, all smiles and piped in in the conversation between Lewis and Simon like nothing ever happened.

Physical contact was also a problem, even a simple friendly hug or a brush of skin would made Alex flinched away from Ross, leaving the dark haired boy confused and somewhat feeling guilty. He quickly noticed that Alex was like that with everyone else -maybe at the exception for Dr Carter and Mr Rodgers- and it somewhat made him feel a bit better. 

Despite the obvious progress in their relationship and how much he wanted to, how much it frustrated him to not be able to take him in his arms or simply brush the redhead’s skin with his fingers, he didn't want for Alex to felt rushed of pushed so Ross decided to be patient and to enjoy everything Alex was giving him. And to his great delight, the redhead actually grew more and more responsive to Ross attempts of making him smile when he was feeling a bit down. One afternoon, he even surprised Ross by offering to help him with his powers. Those hours spend only the two of them alone in some quiet parts of the school property were Ross’ favourites and even if he was still getting nowhere with his powers, it didn't stop him to enjoy every minute spent by Alex’ side. 

At first, Trott couldn't help to feel a ping of jealousy as Alex seemed to open up more to Ross than him. After all, the redhead and the brunet were best friends for years but Alex had kept pushing him away every time he had tried to help him. He wondered what could be so different about Ross. But the feeling quickly vanished as he got his answer, watching Alex smile or laugh at something Ross said or the way the redhead gazed at the other boy, when Ross was not looking. And Trott felt particularly smug when he started noticing the same glances from Ross as soon as Alex was looking away. 

A month after Ross arrived at the school, they celebrated the end of Trott’s punishment and the brunet sped to the shop, bringing back ice creams for everyone that they happily ate in the school’s gardens.

As the weeks went on, his time divided between swimming training, classes and hanging out with his friends, Ross was nonetheless stuck with his powers. He still hadn't manage to trigger them and if sometimes it made him so mad, today he just sighed in defeat in front of his glass of water. Sitting in the cafeteria two weeks before Christmas, Ross was lying down on the table chin on his hands, staring at the ever still water, so engulfed in his thoughts than he didn't even notice his friend coming up behind him.

“Still nothing?” asked Alex as he sat next to Ross. The other boy merely shrugged as an answer. “Okay, about you come play video games with me after class. Yeah? That would clear your mind a bit.” proposed Alex as he hesitantly but very purposely brushed his hand with Ross’ to catch his attention. 

The contact, while over in a bit made Ross’ heart skipped a beat in his chest and he snapped his head towards the redhead. Ross thought that if it wasn't much but it was definitely progress from Alex’s part. And with Alex smiling at him like that, Ross found himself unable to do anything else but smiling back giddily. “Sure.” 

For a minute, they got lost in each other gaze and completely oblivious to their friends chatting joyfully between them, until someone cleared his throat loudly, snapping them back to reality, and they realized that all the faces around the table were turned to them, expectantly.

“What?” 

“We were just asking you if you were planning on going back home for Christmas, Ross?” repeated Hannah with a raised eyebrow and a bemused smile.

“Oh, huh, I’m not sure really. I don’t think my father wants me too.” The dark haired boy explained with a shrug “So I might stay here.” and they all nodded. They understood, of course, as Ross had shared with them the numerous times when he had called his mother but his father had still refuse to talk to him, or even acknowledging his existence despite the pleads of his wife. After every call, his friends tried to comfort him, saying that he will eventually come around, he was his father after all and he couldn't stay mad at him forever, to what Duncan usually snorted and told him not to get his hopes up before commented on his own father who always saw his son as a disappointment and never missed a occasion to remind him with usually a good beating, all that on a very even tone that always sent shivers down Ross’ spine. So yeah, Ross knew some people had worse than him, but he still felt really bad about the state of his relationship with his father and the fact that for the first time in his life, he would not spent Christmas with his family.

After lunch, he followed his friends to class, slightly falling behind as his mind juggled messily between his family and Alex. The afternoon dragged on, Ross finding hard to focus at the thought of spending time in Alex’s bedroom playing video games with the redhead and when the bell finally rang signalling the end of classes for the day, Ross jumped excitedly out of his seat and shoot through the door to find his friend. 

He saw Alex at the bottom of the stairs leading to their dorms and his mind swam as he saw the redhead’s features lighted up when he noticed him. With a shared smile, they walked up the stairs and made their way to Alex’s bedroom.

Settling comfortably in bean bags in front of the large TV, Ross took the controller Alex was handing him. “Up for some GTA 5?” asked the redhead. 

“Bring it on.” replied Ross, a smirk pulling at his lips. 

At first, he held back his shots, not daring to be too brutal with Alex but he quickly realized his friend was ruthless, a smug grin appearing on his face every time he obliterated Ross’s character into oblivion. As he tightened his grip on his controller, Ross clenched his teeth and focused all his skills on killing Alex. After seeing one time too much the wasted screen, Ross screamed in frustration as Alex laughed loudly at his misery and rolled off his bean bag. Ross sighed angrily, chucking his controller on the floor and watching Alex writhe on the floor before an evil smirk split is his face in two.

Without thinking, he pounced on his friend and shook the controller off Alex’s hands before pinning him down on the floor, knees pressing into the man’s hips and fingers firmly wrapped around his wrists. 

Ross panted softly, trying to catch his breath after the struggle before suddenly realizing the position they were in. His heart pounding in his chest, he pushed himself off of Alex after clearly seeing the initial surprise in the redhead’s eyes shifting in a glimpse of fear. Ross started to apologize, stuttering on his words but paused when Alex whimpered like a wounded animal and started to crawl back away from him, panic written all over his face.

““No. No. No. Smith… I'm sorry, I forgot. I'm so sorry” Ross mumbled, crawling hurriedly towards him but stopping two steps away from him when Alex flinched, the boy's back suddenly hitting the steel wall. “Smith… Alex.” murmured softly Ross, like he was afraid to scare him any more than he already has, as if he was approaching a startled animal and slowly he reached out a hand towards the redhead’s arm. 

Alex pushed himself against the wall and cried “Don’t touch me!” Ross dropped his hand as Alex's words felt like at stab in the heart “Just go. Please.” 

“I'm not leaving you alone like this.” argued Ross, shaking his head. He couldn't, just couldn't leave Alex even if he knew he had to give him space. He wanted to stay to comfort him, to tell him he was here for him no matter what, to beg his friend to let Ross help him.

“Please. I don’t want to hurt you.” pleaded Alex with a quavering voice.

You won't! wanted to yell Ross, his heart slowly breaking at his friend's distress and the look of pure fear Alex was giving him at the moment “Alex, let me help you.”

Alex wrapped his arms around his knees and leaning his head against them, he sniffed “Get out.”

“Please let …” Ross started to say, but was cut off when the other boy looked up to him and shouted, his voice broken and the usual deep cerulean of his irises suddenly turning in a fiery glowing orange.

“GET THE FUCK OUT!”

Ross flinched back, catching himself with his hands behind him and Alex’s eyes faded back to their normal blue colour before filling with tears. “Please, Ross.” begged Alex one last time before Ross finally stood up and retreated to the door, reluctance obvious in his movements. He gave Alex one last look, the redhead now crying head in his arms before closing the door behind him. He stood outside, his heart shattered and still breaking at the sound of Alex's sobs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not sure when I will update this (maybe count a couple of weeks) because I'm starting my summer job in less that 5 days and I really don't know how much I will be able to write those next few months. But if you like the story, don't forget to subscribe to be informed of the next update <3


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Update yeah! Thanks to my ten hours plane ride to Canada, I've managed to write quite a lot so you won't have to wait too long for the next update.  
> T/w for blood and violence because we finally got some power action!  
> Enjoy ;)

Ross walked to his room and slammed the door as he entered, making both Simon and Trott jumped. The brunet was lying on his bed, propped on his elbow, a textbook opened next to him as Simon was writing something at his desk, following Trott’s instructions. Simon turned to Ross, a hand on his heart “God Ross, warn a man will you. What are you doing here? I thought you were spending some time with Smith?”

Ross didn’t say anything and fell down on his bad face first, whimpering softly.

Trott frowned when he realized his friend was crying. “Ross? What happened?” He lunged from his bed to go to Ross’ and sat next to the dark haired boy whose body was flinching at each sob. Ross lifted his head from the pillow and turned it to his friend.

He whined “I fucked up, Trott. I really fucked up this time.”

“What happened?” Trott repeated and he shifted on the bed as Ross sat up and wiped his tears. 

“We…” He cleared his throat “We were playing video games and he was laughing at me, it was so playful and I didn’t really thought about it before I pounced on him and pinned him on the floor.” Simon giggled but Trott shot him a death glare. Ross continued “I backed off quickly when I realized what I had done but it was too late, Smith freaked out and backed away from me. Trott, he looked so scared. The way he looked at me. I tried to help him but he shouted at me to leave, so I did.” he finished and Trott sighed and nodded, a sad smile on his lips. Ross whimpered, a sob catching in his throat “God, he must hate me so much right now.”

Trott patted his shoulder and said softly “He was just afraid he might hurt you.”

“That’s what he told me.” sniffed Ross and Trott smiled.

“There you go. He doesn’t hate you, believe me. He just realized he’s been closer to you than he’d ever really allowed himself to be to anyone’s. And it’s freaking him out.” The brunet explained.

“Really?”

“Really.”

“You really like him, yeah?” asked Simon. Ross nodded, he didn’t have the will or the force to deny it. Trott and Simon exchanged a look, and the redhead boy reached a cookies’ box on his desk and stood up to handed it to Ross. “Here, have a jaffa.” Trott rolled his eyes and Ross let escape a small chuckle. “It’s chocolate, Trott. It always help.” assured Simon to the dubious brunet before shooting a confident smile to Ross who took the box.

The dark haired boy thanked his friend and started to eat a jaffa. After a small silence between them, Ross asked with a low voice “What do I do, Trott?”

His friend flicked his hair with a swift movement of his fingers before replying “You’re not going to like it. But I guess you have to wait for him to come back to you.” Ross sighed heavily and Trott patted his knee before standing up quickly on his feet. “Common, let’s go grab dinner.”

 

The same night, across the country, in the periphery of London, one young mutant was getting particularly restless. Sitting in a car with his two friends, he stretched and started complaining “It’s ridiculous. We’ve been here for hours and nothing happened. Can we go now?” 

“You should have brought a magazine like I told you.” told him the Canadian, sat in the driver seat, as he was grabbing a handful of crisps from a bag settled between his knees. He turned to the third young man, sitting in the back. “Adam, are they still sleeping?”

The young mutant focused his vision to a house about fifty meters from where there were parked and answered “Yep. Nothing’s moving.”

Turps shifted position in his seat “I’m not going to read while on a stake out, Sips. It’s unprofessional.”

Sips snorted as he readjusted the baseball cap on his forehead “Your face is unprofessional.”

“Guys.” murmured Adam, eyes shut close, head slightly leaning to the side. 

“Oh wow, that’s really mature, man. You really are a big ass dick.” whined Turps with a false frown.

“Guys.” repeated Adam, eyes now wide open and tapping on Sips’ shoulder, but the young man was too focused on picking on Turps to pay attention.

“I didn’t hear your mother complained about my big ass dick last night.”

Turps laughed and said “I don’t think Sjin would approve that.” Sips was about to replied when Adam, losing patience, warned them with a pressing voice.

“Guys. SHUT UP! I’m hearing something.”

The two other men tensed right away and looked outside. “What is it?” asked Sips, disposing of the crisps bag in the glove compartment.

“Someone’s coming.” informed the younger of them and suddenly he jumped out of his seat and pointed his finger in direction of the street “Here! The alley, there.”

Indeed a hooded figure emerged from the darkness. Walking under a lamppost for a second, the three young men realized it was a man of average build, wearing dark jeans and a black hoodie covering his head, making it impossible to see his face. The mysterious figure stopped in front of the house they were staking out and looked around him. The three friends immediately sank lower in their car seats and hold their breath for a few seconds, before the man leaned back against the garden fence and took out of his pocket a lighter and a pack of cigarettes. He flicked the lighter open, the small flame illuminating his face for a split second and lit his smoke and Sips squinted his eyes, trying to make out his features. The man stayed there for a moment, smoking and pacing, taking a look at his watch from time to time. After a solid twenty minutes of nothing happening, Turps started to become restless again.

“What the hell is he waiting for?”

Adam shushed him as a dark van drove along the side walk and stopped in front of the house, hiding the man for the three mutants in the car.

Sips cursed and asked Adam, in a whisper, like the men could hear him “How many are they?”

“Three, plus the other guy with the hoodie.” replied Adam, before he frowned. He then exclaimed, voice slightly rising in volume “They’re breaking in.”

Sips touched the peak of his cap and grunted “We have to do something.”

“Yean told us to observe.” objected Turps, shaking his head and looking out the window, but the doubt was clear in his voice.

“I’m pretty sure those guys are not here to clean the windows, Turps. So I’m going in.” decided Sips and hand on the door handle, he turned to his friend “You’re with me?”

Turps hesitated a few seconds, clearly thinking the decision over before nodding “Yeah.”

Before they were able to exit the car, Adam covered his ears with a wince but the other two didn’t need to ask, they had heard the scream as well.

“Let’s go!” Sips opened the car door with force, before turning to the young man in the back seat “Adam you stay in the car!”

Adam face fell and he started mumbling “But…”

“Call Yean and stay there.” insisted Turps before lounging after Sips who was already halfway across the street. Adam grunted, crossing his arms on his chest, that he didn’t see what was the use of having super enhanced senses and combat training if he was always stuck in the car when things were going down.

Sips transformed himself in his dirt form just before bashing the front door open and ran in the hallway, followed closely by Turps. He froze a second in the living room doorway, just the time to take the scene in. 

Four men in black were standing in the room, one holding by the hair a young woman in nightwear who was crying, eyes widen by fear and fidgeting against the strong man holding her close.

Two other men were holding a young man by the arms, the poor unfortunate only wearing a T-shirt and boxers, blood dripping for his nose. The fourth man with the hoodie was leaning in front of him, holding the lighter mere centimetres away of the young man’s face. They all turned to them at the noise and within seconds Sips was on the guys. He punched one in the face, hearing the satisfying noise of bones cracking and the man fell on the ground, yelling in pain and holding his nose. Sips threw another punch at the other man, who ducked and out of nowhere pulled a knife and stabbed Sips in his side in a blink of an eye. The blade broke on the toughen skin and the man yelped before being thrown to the ground. Sips turned to Turps who was fighting the third man, a tall bold block and throwing him a hard blow in the guts. But the man didn’t even flinch so Turps started screaming, the high pitch noise forcing Sips to cover his ears. But the man didn’t seemed phase by it and took a shocked Turps by the throat and lifted him from the ground. Sips saw the muscles of the man’s arm expending at an alarming rate as he snarled.

“You’re not going to sing any more, little canary.”

Sips was about to jumped to help his friend when he was suddenly pulled back with an amazing force and hit the wall of the living room, tearing a big hole in the plaster. Covered in dust, he stood up and he screwed his eyes at the sight in front of him. The man he had previously punched in the nose was now facing him, blood covering his face but the most notable thing about him being the two long and thick whips that had replaced his arms. Sips cursed and ducked a new attack by rolling on the floor and hiding behind the couch. That gave him time to take a glimpse in the living room and he saw the couple hiding in a corner, the young man holding his girlfriend in his arms but the hooded man was nowhere to be seen. He didn’t dwell on it as he saw Turps becoming redder and redder as the strong man choked him. Sips needed to act fast before the man killed his friend but he lost his focus on Turps when the couch was suddenly reaped away in front of him and Sips stood up, determination set on his face. As the man threw his arm-whips at him, Sips jumped in the middle and grabbed them in a swift movement, he then pulled violently on it towards him and head-butted the man, who fell on the floor, knocked out. The young man turned to his friend, still being strangled by the large bold man.  
Without hesitation, Sips jumped on him and hit him violently in the back, making him lose his grip around Turps’ neck. The young mutant fell on his knees, hands wrapped around his throat and breathing with difficultly. Sips ducked a punch coming from the strong man and retreated a few steps. The man was probably stronger than him, even if Sips was still in his dirt form but he was slow, definitely slower than the Canadian. So Sips danced around him, throwing punches and ducking. To distract him, Sips suddenly opened his palm towards the man and throw a handful of dirt in his eyes before jumping on him and giving him hard blow at the base of the neck, followed by one on the top of his head. The man fell on the ground with a loud thump and stayed there.

Sips, slightly out of breath helped Turps on his feet and asked “Where’s the other guy?” 

Turps was still massaging his throat and answered with a strained voice that he saw the man fleeing towards the back on the house. Sips groaned and ran in the hallway, following the sound of tossing around. He found the hooded man in what seemed an office, a mess now because of the man yanking drawers open and going through folders, throwing them on the floor after a quick glimpse at them, he was obviously looking for something but considering the state of the room, he hadn’t find it yet.

The man saw Sips and ran. He jumped through the open window and the young mutant went after him, definitely glad the office was at the ground floor of the house.

“Stop!” He yelled, running after him in the garden. To his surprise the man stopped in this tracks and turned to Sips. The young mutant saw the power gun too late and tried to duck but a wave of plasma hit him on his side. He fell on the ground, face first and back to his human form. He groaned as he hit the floor and felt the coppery taste of blood in his mouth. He heard footsteps coming his way and tried to stand up, ignoring the painful throbbing of his ribs. A foot hit him hard on the back and pushed him brutally back on the ground when he heard a snarl and a flick on a lighter. 

But before the man was able to do anything else, Turps' piercing shriek echoed in the air, forcing the man to drop his gun and reached for his ears in a attempt to cover them. In the movement, his hood fell off his head, and Sips, while writhing on the floor, managed to get a glimpse of a headfull of red hair and piercing blue eyes. The shriek stopped and the man ran away with difficulty, still covering his ears. Sips barely heard Turps running and dropping on his knees next to him.

“Sips. Shit. Are you okay?” 

Turps helped Sips getting up on his feet and the Canadian palmed carefully his aching side with one hand as the other reached to his busted lip. He winced when he saw blood on his fingers and replied to his friend “I’m good. He just shot me with a power gun, so I might need a few hours before I can shape shift again and I’ll probably have a bruise tomorrow but otherwise I’m fine. How is everyone?” They started walking back to the house, the wounded man supported by Turps.

“Shaken up but fine, also the three goons escaped while I was securing the couple” informed his friend, furrowing his brows. He shot Sips a worried look as he took in the blood trickling from the mutant’s lower lip and his pale features “Are you sure you okay? You looked like you’ve seen a ghost.”

Sips winced again as they reached the back door and answered the other man in a low voice “Well, I think I just did, Turps.”

 

Alex shifted in his bed, unable to fall asleep; he glanced at his alarm clock which told him it was past 3 in the morning. The redhead grunted. He knew he won’t be able to sleep. Not after what happened with Ross. His heart clenched as he recalls the look of hurt in Ross’ eyes when Alex tried to avoid his touch. He never meant to yell at him but he needed to get Ross to leave, to put some distances between them. Despite how much he wished Ross had stayed with him.  
In his 16 years alive, Alex never felt like this before, never craved the contact of someone else more than Ross’ and it terrorized him. He wanted him so much, wanted Ross to kiss him, to press his body against his own, to feel Ross’ hands running in his hair. Damn, he would even settle for just being able to talk to him without that crippling fear twisting his guts. 

His stomach grumbled and he grunted, torn between his hunger and the fear of leaving his room. He tossed and turned a few more times, until his stomach grumbled even louder. With a sigh, he got out of bed, and peeking his head out of the steel door, he listened for any noises in the hallway. After hearing only glorious silence, he left his room and made his way to the school kitchens.

He almost turned back when he saw the light under the kitchen door but a smile pulled on his lips as he heard a soft voice singing. He pushed the swing door open and greeted Kim when he found the short brunette sat on a counter, a pot of ice cream on her laps and going through her phone absently. She looked up at Smith and smiled.

“Hey, Smiffy. Can’t sleep?”

Alex made his way to the food cupboard as he grunted “I was hungry.”

“Ah yes. That’s usually what happens when you miss dinner, you know.” Kim chuckled, putting her down phone next to her. 

The redhead opened the cupboard and started to scan the food inside “I… I couldn’t.” he mumbled as he took a cereal box. He picked up a bowl and started pouring the cereals in.

Kim watched him with a fond smile and said “I know. Ross didn’t say anything, but he didn’t have to. He was a mess so we figured something must’ve happen with you.” At her words, Alex’s hand twitched and he spilled cereals on the counter and the floor. He cursed and Kim laughed. He quickly cleaned up and yanked a drawer open to fish out a spoon. Noticing the tension in his movements, Kim cleared his throat and leaned slightly forward. “Look it doesn’t take much to see that something is going on between the two of you and he obviously cares a lot about you. So whatever you did I’m sure he will forgive you.” 

She smiled to her friend as he walked towards her with his bowl and spoon in his hands before putting them on the counter next to the brunette. Pushing on his arms, he settled on the hard surface and crossed his legs before reaching to his made up dinner. After throwing two spoons of cereals in his mouth and chewing with loud crunches, he swallowed and looked to his friend. Kim was watching him expectantly, waiting for him to talk. He sighed and started to tell her what happened.

“We got … too close and I panicked. I was afraid I lose control and hurt him.” he looked down and ran a hand through his unruly hair “I’m so tired of this, Kim. I just want to be normal and be able to touch or kiss someone I like without the fear of setting them of fire.”

Kim squealed “You liiiiiike him.” Alex almost dropped his bowl as he blushed fiercely.

“Kim…” he reprimanded her. 

Kim, who was hiding her mouth behind her hands, couldn’t help grinning. She sighed and gave him a apologetic smile as she saw Alex’s frown “Sorry. But it’s too adorable.”

Alex raised an eyebrow at this “Have you missed the part where I might set him on fire? Anyway it’s better to stop before I hurt him for good.” He said with finality before gulping another spoon of cereals.

“You’ll hurt him only if you lose control. What if you stop being afraid for a minute?”

“Jeez, I didn’t think of that before, thanks Kim. I’m just gonna stop being scared. I’m sure it will work. Easy peasy. ” replied Alex, mouth full but sarcasm still obvious in his words.

Kim rolled her eyes “What I mean is, you have to let people in. You can’t let your powers stopping you for having friends. Or a relationship.” Alex shrugged, looking down in his bowl of cereals and Kim sighed “Look Smith, you know I can relate and you know I hurt people too, sometimes willingly. If the first times were accidents, the last one, I wanted to hurt him. I let Nano take over me and she almost killed the guy.”

The redhead snapped his head towards his friend and spat “The bastard deserved it. He was a bully.”

Kim gave him a sad smile “It doesn’t make it okay. I never should have let her out in the first place.” She sat up and crossed her legs, discarding the pot of ice cream she still had on her laps “She’s way more powerful than me and sometimes it’s hard to ignore or shut her up.”

“How do you shut up an evil twin?” asked Alex, genuinely curious.

“I already told you guys, Nano is not my evil twin. She’s … like a dark side, a personality that feeds on my anger and grow more powerful because of it. I hear her little voice inside my head, whispering me to use that rage, pushing me to let her out.” She explained quickly, fidgeting with the bottom of her flannel shirt she had put over a pajama top. “It can be exhausting.”

“No shit. How are not you crazy with that?” snorted Alex before eating another spoon of crunchy cereals.

His friend turned to him with a smirk “Who told you I wasn’t?” and they both laughed.

“No, but seriously. How do you control it? How are you not scared of her?”

“It’s not that I’m not scared. Because I am, all the time. But instead of letting the fear control me I use it to my advantage.” confessed Kim with a small smile “I know if I let her out she could hurt my friends, or innocent people. So I focus on that to push her away and keep her bottled up.”

Alex raised an eyebrow and shook his head “You’re way too wise for your age.”

“I’m only one year younger than you. Besides fear is good, it means you have something to lose. ”

“Now you’re just showing off.” chuckled the redhead before asking more seriously, eyebrows knitted in a frown “So you’re saying that, because you let people in, you have more control over your power?”

Kim nodded as she took back the pot of ice cream and plunged her spoon in the frozen dessert “Yes, having friends, that’s what keeps me sane, that’s what protects me against her, it gives me a reason to control her.” 

“What if someone hurts one of your friends? What would do then?”

“I anyone touches any of you, I will let Nano fucking murder them.” deadpanned Kim before eating her spoon of ice cream. 

Alex stated as he shook his head “Jeez, good to know you’re on our side.”

“Thanks. Ice cream?” replied Kim as she handed him the pot of ice cream.

Alex smiled “Sure.” And he took a spoon of the dessert, making sure not to spill any as it reached his mouth.

He looked at Kim, raising an eyebrow as the brunette flashed him a mischievous smile “So Ross, huh?”

Alex rolled his eyes and he swallowed the ice cream, wincing at the freezing sensation along his throat before muttering a quick “Shut up.” as Kim peeled in laugher next to him.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Update time, yeah! Sorry for the wait, been very busy with the new job and the time zone's difference is killing me. But anyway, new chapter and this one is a bit special because one of the part, Nilesy and Hannah's first meeting to be exact, is actually written by my amazing friend Nimomin (you can go and check her wonderful blog on Tumblr : nimomin.tumblr.com). 
> 
> Enjoy ;)

Sips winced as he sat on the infirmary bed “How’re your ribs, man?” asked Turps and Sips shrugged, a groan leaving his lips a second after. “I still don’t get why you didn’t let Yean heal you, you just suffering for no reason.”

“I told you, man. It keeps me sharp. Next time, I will be faster to duck a shot from a power gun.”

Turps shook his head as he took some bandages from the cupboard and walked over to his friend. Sips took off his shirt and let Turps bandaged his painful ribs. As he finished, Sjin ran into the infirmary, a panicked look on his face, his school backpack threw in haste over his shoulder. 

“Hey. I saw Adam on my way to lunch and he told me you were here." Sjin finally saw the bandages and gasped "Are you okay? What happened?”. Discarding his backpack on the floor at the end of the bed, he moved toward his boyfriend and took Sips’ head between his hands.

“I’m fine, babe, Just a bruise.” replied Sips with an easy smile and tried to ignore the pain currently throbbing his side.

Sjin frowned and asked quickly “A bruise? You weren’t shapeshifted?”

“Power gun.” Sips shrugged, wincing as the movement made his all torso hurt. He didn’t had time to add anything before Sjin kissed him softly on the lips and Sips circled Sjin’s waist with his arm, pulling the other man closer, and moaning, not really sure if it was from pain or contentment. 

Turps interrupted them with a snort “Yeah. I’m fine by the way.” He joked and laughed while Sjin flipped him off.

Gazing back into Sips’ eyes, Sjin sighed “I don’t like the idea of you being out there and getting hurt.”

“I know but it’s my job, Sjin.” replied Sips as he traced soft patterns in the other man’s lower back. It was not the first time they had this conversation and they always ended up in fighting. Being older than his boyfriend by three years, Sips had decided, after turning eighteen, to stay and helped at the school while he waited for Sjin to be ready to leave. But what started as a temporary job had really grown on him and he was more than ever invested in his missions, especially now that an emerging threat to his world was thrown into the mix.

“You were supposed to help Yean until I was of age. I’m nineteen now and my powers are better than ever.” complained Sjin as he pulled out of the embrace.

“You still want to leave? What about taking after the school’s cook when he retires? What about your plans to extend the farm here?” reminded him Sips. Sjin had indeed taken some time to help the cook in the kitchen and was really enjoying it and for a few years already, he had a fruit and vegetables garden at the back of the school’s gardens which was the main source of food for the school’s meals. If Sjin could easily make them grown in a snap of his fingers, he actually liked to watch the products grow naturally, just giving them a little help when needed.

Sjin shook his head and took a step back “I want my own farm, Sips. Away from here.” he sighed. Scratching the beanie on his head, he added with a hopeful smile “Maybe we could go settle in Canada, I would love to see where you grew up.”

Sips frowned as reached for his ribs with the tip of his fingers and then snapped at his boyfriend “And what will I do while you’ll farm and play around with your powers. Build a fucking dirt factory?” Sjin looked hurt at his word and Sips instantly regretted his outburst “I’m sorry. Can we just talk about it later, please? I’m tired, in pain and I really don’t want to be fighting with you right now.”

Sjin nodded and murmured an apology. He then helped Sips lying down on the bed, cringing as the other man hold his side and groaned. Sjin shook his head “You really should have let Yean healed you.”

The Canadian settled as comfortably as possible on the pillows and said “Nah. It keeps me…”

“Sharp. Yeah I know.” Sjin interrupted him with an amused smile and kissed Sips on the forehead “I’ll come see you after the afternoon period, okay?”  
Sips nodded and closed his eyes, and Sjin, after one last look at his boyfriend, left for the kitchen, where he still might be able to grab something to eat before his next class.

 

To Ross’ despair, Alex completely ignored him for the following two weeks, spending most of his time with Kim, the two disappearing after class and only coming back for dinner, looking rather excited. Ignoring the sickening pinch of jealousy twisting his insides every time he was seeing the two together, Ross tried to follow Trott’s advice and gave Alex the space and time he needed. He waited patiently (more or less) for the redhead to reach out to him but Alex never did, and it was driving Ross crazy.

He missed his friend so much and even if he spent a lot of time with the rest of the gang, for Ross it was not the same if the fiery redhead was not talking to him. Alex was not avoiding Ross per se, he still hang out with Trott and the rest of his friends and joining them for lunches and dinners at the cafeteria but he was purposely sitting far away from the dark haired boy and pointedly ignored any looks or attempted conversation from his part, leaving Ross in a constant state of discouragement and heartsickness. On some days, he had to bite hard on his lips to prevent tears from rolling down his face and even if he knew they meant well, the insistent “Are you okay?” or sympathetic looks from his friends was not helping him at all. Noticing his friend’s discomfort, Trott had told them off gently and now everyone just acted like the palpable tension between Ross and Alex was inexistent.

This is why, the evening before the first day of the winter break, they all sat up together at dinner and talked excitedly about their plans for the holidays. Finishing the dessert of the day (fruits salad, fresh from Sjin’s garden, even if it was the middle of December), Ross listened to Duncan telling them about how, at the last Christmas Eve, he and Alex had sneaked up at the pool and using Duncan’s powers, messed up with the pool’s thermostat. They had stayed up all night, waiting for the water to turn to solid ice, eating sweet pastries and drinking beers stolen from the kitchen.

Ross laughed with the rest of his friends but stopped when he suddenly felt eyes on him. He snapped his head and crossed eyes with Alex, the redhead turning quickly his gaze away, a blush barely noticeable on his cheeks. Ross’ heart sped up and warmth spread in his chest. Quickly reprimanding himself for the lack of control over his own reactions, the dark haired boy tried to focus on Duncan’s story, the blond reaching the part where Mr Rodgers had found out the skating rink in the morning, along with the two teens asleep and sprawled on the pool’s bleachers, surrounding by wrappers and empty bottles.  
Everyone laughed again and Ross looked at Smith, to find the redhead gazing at him again, but this time Smith hold his look for a few seconds and to Ross’ surprise, gave him a shy smile.  
Ross’ heart jumped out of his chest and feeling himself blush, he returned the smile. The moment was unfortunately interrupted by Duncan who asked Alex to imitate Mr Rodgers yelling at them. Ross let escape a breath as Alex gladly tried to replicate the man tough American accent, making everyone laughed. Ross’ cheeks must have been red still because Trott gave him a questioning look from across the table, to which he just shrugged.

After a moment, Alex yawned and stretched as he stood up, and after wishing good night to everyone, he picked up his tray and made his way to the cafeteria’s exit. Leaving his tray at the dish wagon, he pushed the double doors and left the room. Ross watched him intently, heart racing in his chest and as the dark haired boy started to stood up as well with the intent of following Alex, he felt someone grab his arm and making him sat down on his chair. He turned to Kim with an interrogating look. The short girl sat next to him had lost nothing of their interaction and she smiled softly at him when she leaned closer.  
“Not yet. Be patient.” Kim whispered “He’ll come to you when he’ll be ready.”

Ross complained “But he’s been ignoring me for weeks now, I’m going bonkers here.” Kim gave him a sympathetic smile and Ross shook his head while started to stir absently the water in his glass.

Kim made sure none of their friends were listening to the conversation and she whispered again “He’s really trying, you know.” Ross turned his head to her and Kim added “He’s been practising with his powers for the last weeks and he’s doing really well. I’m trying to help him as well but I’d say he finally find his motivation.”

Ross quirk an eyebrow “So that’s what you were doing together lately.”

“Yeah and…” Kim started to reply but picked up on Ross’ slightly accusing tone. She finally understood and chuckled “Oh, Ross, don’t tell me you though we…” the dark haired boy blushed and Kim laughed again “You really have no idea how he feels about you?”

Ross was getting slightly annoyed by Kim laughing at him when he had no idea what she was talking about “What?” 

In front of Ross dumbfounded expression, Kim stopped laughing and explained with a large smile “He’s doing all this for you, you idiot. You’re the reason he needed to finally get out of his own way and overcome his fears.” Ross eyes’ widen as she talked and Kim added with emphasis, gesturing towards the rest of the group and finally getting their attention “Everyone knows about you two.” 

Ross’ heart was now pounding in his chest, trying to register Kim’s words as they were slowly making their way to his brain. “But… but … “ he tried before Trott interrupted him.

“Uh, Ross?” his friend watched him with an amused smile, and as well as everyone else around the table, going from surprised looks to laughing.

Ross’ jaw dropped when he realised the water of his glass was now circling around the tip of his fingers. Pushed by instinct, he turned his hand and the water settled in his palm and quickly formed a small ball of liquid, barely brushing his skin and rotating on itself.

“How did you do that?” asked Hannah excitedly, her eyes fixed on the water spiralling in Ross’ palm.

Ross chuckled, voice slightly higher than usual as he confessed “I have no idea.” Relishing the new and sudden sensation of a flow of energy running along his arm and feeling shivers ran down his spine, Ross completely missed the knowing smile on Kim’s face.  
Lewis asked, leaning forward on the table and barely hiding his eagerness of seeing more of Ross’ ability “Can you make it move?”

“I can try.” offered Ross with a confident smile which quickly disappeared when after focusing on the small ball of water, it practically jumped out of his hand to splashed in Lewis’ face. Laughter exploded around the table as the boy removed his glasses to wipe them on his T –Shirt, as Ross, ears a deep shade of magenta, apologized profusely and handed his friend a napkin.

They were soon chased out of the cafeteria by the cook and retreated to their respective bedrooms, still laughing at Lewis’ misfortune and for the first time in the last two weeks, Ross fell asleep with a smile on his face.

 

The morning after which was the first day of winter break, Hannah knocked at Nilesy’s room “Nilesy, are you ready? Mum’s here!” she opened the door when she didn’t get any answer, to find a black cat curled on the bed, sleeping peacefully “Oh common Nil, we have to go!” The cat opened his eyes and stretched lazily with a soft mewl. Hannah rolled her eyes and grabbed the boy’s packed bag at the end of the bed and left the room, not before saying “Downstairs in five minutes or we leave without you, kitty cat.” They both knew the boy hated that nickname so of course she was using every time Nilesy was pushing it a bit too far for her taste.

 

Hannah was only ten when she first saw the cat, its black silhouette very visible between the bushes that lined her backyard. As soon as she stepped towards him, he was but a dash of black that left her heart beating fast. Convinced that he was the pet she had so desperately wanted, the companion she needed during her lonely summer days, Hannah had decided to carry a can of tuna with her at all times.

It was barely a few days later that the cat was back, his green eyes shining from the shadows. Hannah carefully took the can out of her pocket and opened it. Holding it out, she slowly made her way towards the bushes. The cat sniffed the air, long whiskers shaking, as his eyes darted between the can and the little girl. Hannah stood a few meters away from the bushes, the cat’s eyes now glued to her. With a careful movement, she placed the can of tuna on the floor and pushed it towards the cat. The cat remained still, occasionally glancing at the food. Hannah left a few minutes later, taking one quick glance back before entered her house. The cat was still hiding in the bushes, green eyes watching her. She smiled as she entered her house, full of hope that she would see him again.

The next morning, she found the can empty and the cat sitting in the bushes, green eyes observant as always as she approached him. Hannah replaced the empty can with a new one, pushing it into the darkness of the bushes. The cat watched her intently, ears perked in attention and body taunt. Once Hannah had stepped away and sat a few meters away, the cat started eating the food in the safety of the bushes, green eyes occasionally glancing at the little blonde girl.  
Hannah tried her best to remain calm and collected, like her teachers had taught her, only the smile in her face betraying her excitement. She concentrated on the deep breaths as she watched the cat eagerly eat the can of tuna, it wouldn't do to start floating out of excitement and her parents finding out. She knew they would just give her another talk about responsibility and all the other reasons why she couldn't have a pet.

The little girl leaned forward, putting both elbows on the ground and placing her head on her hands. The cat's green eyes analysed her as they met. She smiled at the cat as he tilted his head, a pink tongue licking at his whiskers. She leaned towards him, whispering as loud as she dared, "Do you want some more?"  
Green eyes inspected her, before the cat barely nodded. Hannah froze, unsure if she had imagined it, wondering if the cat could really understand her. A second later she had jumped to her feet and turned towards her house. She looked back, the cat still sitting among the shadows, "I'll be right back," she told him.  
She was back in just a few minutes, a bowl filled with water in one hand and as many different kinds of food she had been able to grab in the other. She sat down a meter away from the bushes, the cat watched her expectantly in the same spot she had left him. Hannah placed the food and bowl as far as her little arms would let her, pride in her eyes at the options she has brought her cat.

The little blonde girl sat back, waiting for her cat to step forward. A black paw stretched out of the shadows, swiftly followed by the rest of him as he stepped into the light. Hannah's heart clenched as she noticed the black fur that seemed to be stretched over his skin, every rib easily seen under it. A grey scratch spread from between his shoulder blades towards the soft of his chest. The cat studied her, bright green eyes taking everything in about the little girl as he carefully started eating the food laid before him.  
It had been a long time since Nilesy had known true kindness, ever since his parents died two years, ten months and six days ago. It has also been that long since he has experienced happiness. Jumping from foster home to foster home because nobody knew what to do with him had not left a lot of time to make friends. Not wanting to go through it again, he decided to disappear, just as his foster mom had told she wanted to his social worker on the phone. Nilesy had not cried, not this time, as he shapeshifted into his most used form and left, leaving all the remnants of a life he didn't have any more behind.

Living as a cat had not been as easy as he had hoped, but it sure beat the awkward dinners and the empty look from the many foster parents. He stuck to the shadows, his cat form blended too easily into them. He drifted around, occasionally looking into windows as a family sat for dinner, memories of his mom kissing his forehead goodnight flashing in his mind. He stole food where he could, never finding more than the bare minimum to keep going, to keep hiding and becoming part of the shadows.  
And then she had appeared, her blue eyes kind as she truly looked at him. Nilesy had not been truly happy for a long time, not until he met Hannah. They played in her backyard, the dark cat chasing after the little blonde girl as she giggled. Once they were tired they would lay in the grass, his nose pressed against her hair and purrs escaping him as she pet his back.

The summer had drifted past them between games and cuddles in the sun. The laid in the grass as the sky darkened like every other day. Nilesy closed his eyes, the smell of fresh grass filling his senses, when the soft pets stopped. He barely lifted his head, one eye open as he starred at Hannah. She had turned on her side, eyes focused on him as she chewed on her bottom lip.

"I'm going to have to go to school soon," she whispered, eyes filling with tears. Nilesy sat up, pressing his front paws against her arms as she clutched them around herself. "I'm so sorry. I don't know how I can bring you with me, Link," she finished, folding onto herself as she started to cry.  
Nilesy had forgotten what family felt like until Hannah had come along and he was not willing to let it go. Not again. He pressed his nose against hers, eyes set in determination, before he pulled away.

Hannah clutched herself closer as the tears streamed down her face, fearing that she would never see him again.

"Hannah," the foreign voice pulled her away from her sadness. She sat up, wiping her tears away with both her hands. She looked towards the bushes, where a boy had appeared. She starred at him, the dark hair framing his face and those green eyes she knew so well looking back at her.

"Link?" She asked, hope filling her voice.

Nilesy gave her a lopsided smile, "It's Nilesy, actually."

"You're a mutant," she stated. Nilesy nodded, eyes still filled with doubt and fear.

Hannah laughed as she flung herself at him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. "This is the best news ever, Link. I mean, Nilesy," she smiled as she pulled away to look at his face. "This means you can come to school with me." 

 

“Is he ready?” asked Lewis from the bottom of the mansion's hall stairs as he saw Hannah appearing out of the first floor hallway.

“Of course not, he was having a nap as always.” she replied as she ran down the stairs and dropping the bag at her feet, Lewis smiled and took her by the hips before pressing his forehead against hers.

“I’m gonna miss you.” he murmured against his girlfriend's lips.

Hannah smiled and gave him a quick peck on the mouth before saying “Me too. But at least you’ll have the guys here, Duncan, Smith and Ross.”

Lewis twirled a finger around Hannah’s strand of hair and informed her “Trott staying also.”

“Really?”

“Yeah he was supposed to spend Christmas with Katie but her mother is not feeling really well so he didn’t want to bother them too much.” he added with a shrug, brushing his nose against Hannah’s.

Hannah pulled back, much to Lewis disappointment and she commented “Okay. Well with less people around, maybe he will be able to fix the situation between Smith and Ross.”

Lewis shook his head “Poor fellow had to fell in love with the guy scared of contact.”

“Smith had done a lot of progress those last few months, largely thanks to Ross. I’m sure they’ll get there eventually.” smiled the blonde, her gaze fixed on Lewis’s mouth.

“Would be nice not to be the only couple here, we could have double dates.” added Lewis, his words a whisper into the space between them as he leans forward to press a gentle kiss to Hannah’s lips.

His girlfriend pushed him back and raised an eyebrow “You didn’t even take me on one date but already planning a double date with Smith and Ross?”

Lewis protested “What about our night on the roof? That was a date!” 

Hannah rolled her eyes and argued “We made out and ate crackers. That doesn’t count.” 

“It counted for me.” crooned Lewis before squawking when Hannah punched him in the arm.

“Finally, you lazy sod.” commented Hannah as Nilesy came down the stairs now in his human form.

“Who are you calling lazy? I was just taking a power nap to regain some energy.” replied Nilesy with a sheepish smile.

Hannah crossed her arm and joked “Some energy to do what? Move from your bed to the couch for another nap.” 

“Nope, to race you to the car.” He answered before transforming into a black panther and bounced into the hall and out of the front door.

Hannah and Lewis laughed before the blonde said “It’s so cute that every time he actually thinks he can beat me to it.” She levitated a few inches off the ground to be level with her boyfriend and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. “See you soon. Love you.”

“Love you too. Now go show him, honey.” smiled Lewis and Hannah flew by the door after her friend, both arms stretch in front of her as Lewis just shook his head and chuckled before made his way to the living room. 

Hannah quickly caught up with Nilesy, who was still galloping on the long gravel road to the property gate and the girl enjoyed the familiar feeling of the wind blowing in her hair and across her face. She easily passed her friend, and still in the air, she turned on her back and circling her hands in quick succession, she created a small ball of energy and aimed towards Nilesy. She missed and tried again, and again, and again but she wasn’t able to reach the still running feline, who was not even trying to avoid the balls of energy coming at him.

They finally reached the gate and Nilesy quickly transformed into his human form as Hannah landed near her mother’s car.  
“Your aim sucks.” panted the boy, trying to catch his breath but a huge smile lighting up his face.

“Shut up, I won anyway.” She laughed as she opened the car’s door and after greeting her mother, she turned to him “ Oh by the way, you forgot your bag in the mansion’s hall.” 

She jumped into the car with a chuckle just as Nilesy cursed at her, but the boy was reprimanded with a sharp “Nilesy, language!” by Hannah’s mum, so he grunted and doubling back on the gravel road to go get his forgotten bag, he jumped forward and transformed in his black panther form once more.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOOHOO!! AN UPDATE!! IT'S A TRUE CHRISTMAS MIRACLE! -please don't kill me. It took me a ridiculously long time to go back to the story and I apologised a thousand times for that. It was supposed to be just a couple months hiatus during the summer because my job during July and August was just too demanding but real life really kicked me in the butt those last few months and it made it really hard for me to write.  
> Anyway I won't say more bc that's not why you're here so FINALLY have some winter fluff with some angst on top of the Christmas pudding (because that wouldn't be truly Christmas without some family disappointment)!!  
> Happy holidays!

On the morning of the 26th of December, Ross tossed and turned in his bed. The problem with waking up every school day at five is that his internal clock is screwed and even the mornings he could have slept until ten, he was awake at dawn.  
Once it was clear he was not going to fall asleep again, he sighed and decided to go for a swim. He could always go back to bed after if he needed more sleep.  
He sat up and swung his legs over the bed, standing up and almost tripping on the postal box full of goodies his mother had sent him filled with chocolates, home-made cookies, three pairs of socks and two new swim trunks. Oh and a seventeen pages’ long letter in which she talked about absolutely everything and nothing. One of the only thing Ross remembered from it though is the big fat lie his parents had told everyone to explain his absence at home. That their prodigy son landed a new international scholarship for young athletes and as a result had been transferred to a school in the US, one with a better swimming program than his old one and he just didn't had time to come back for Christmas. What a lot of bollocks.  
It would make Ross laugh if he hadn’t been so hurt. He knew being a mutant was rare enough and most people were scared of them but he thought that of all people his parents at least would accept him for what he was, especially after a few months to digest the news. His mother was still talking to him, sure but every time she referred his powers, she used the words “condition” or “disorder” - like it was a disease. And well, his father was straight up ignoring him. He hadn’t talk to the man since he was sent to Mutant’s school and no words, no present from him came with the Christmas package.  
Screw him, Ross cursed as he put on a pair of jeans and a T shirt above one of his new swim trunk. 

With one last look to his two sleeping roommates, lips twitching in a small smile as Trott mumbled about someone stealing his Christmas’ pudding before rolling on his side, Ross closed the door and walked silently through the empty corridors of the mansion. It was usually his favourite time of the day, when the mansion was asleep and the light of the moon projected through the windows a mysterious glow, when all Ross could hear was glorious silence and the patted sound of his footsteps on the carpeted floor. But right now and after spending three days in Christmas’ effervescence it was too empty, too lonely. Even if he didn’t regret his choice to stay at the mansion, feeling it was not welcome back home, it was still his first Christmas away from his family. He had missed his mother’s perfect roast turkey, roast potatoes and roasted chestnut. Well, a lot of roasted stuff. And the cranberry sauce, man his mother’s cranberry sauce. He could almost taste it on his tongue. Like every year, they probably had celebrated boxing day with the Hornby family and he wondered if his cousins had still participated in their annual FIFA face-off, the Hornby Christmas Cup as they originally named it and that Ross would usually win. Not that there were a real price for the winner, just bragging rights for a full year of family meetings but it was enough for the fight to be ruthless.  
He finally reached the pool and discarding his clothes as fast as possible, he ran to the edge and performed a perfect plunge, thoughts immediately drowned in the water. 

And for almost an hour Ross swam until his arms hurt and his head spins and so, after one final length, he decided he had enough. Breathless, he reached the edge of the pool and resting his head on crossed arms, he smiled as he realised it had started to snow, a thin white coat already covering the school gardens. The sight filled him with a warm feeling. He should be happy, his life was great here. He had good grades and great new friends. His powers finally kicked in and he couldn’t wait to discover more about them. He had a great Christmas with everyone, eating the holiday feast and chocolates till indigestion, and of course unwrapping presents. And the cherry on top of the Christmas’ pudding, Smith had finally stopped ignoring him. 

 

Despite Trott’s warning that Smith was not a big fan of the Holiday’s spirit and he was expecting the redhead to stay in his room all day, they all had been pleasantly surprised when Alex joined them for dinner on Christmas’ eve, Ross almost choking on his roast when Alex sat next to him with a shy smile. He tried to return the smile but his mouth was full of at least three different types of food and the result hadn’t been great. Not his most finest moment sure, but it had made Alex laugh and not to be a cheesy twat but at that very moment, that was all Ross wanted for Christmas. 

Yeah, Ross was still oh so screwed and he sighed before letting himself sink at the bottom of the pool.

 

 

Later than day, the gang decided to settle in the living room and play some board games. At the moment, they were playing Monopoly and Lewis was beating the crap out of them. Ross was suspecting the boy to temper with the dices with his powers but he hadn’t managed to catch him in the act yet. If he was cheating, his friend was being very sneaky about it.

“Ten!! That’s my property, again! Pay up, Duncan!” exclaimed Lewis, moving his hand forward and opening his palm towards the ceiling.

The blonde grumbled as he moved his piece, the car, to Mayfair and threw bills at his smug friend “It’s the third time in a row that I land on the dark blue!”

“Don’t be a sour loser, Dunc.” laughed Alex as he took the dices and threw them on the board. He took his piece, the canon, counted the spaces and passed Ross’ top hat until he landed on Regent Street, one of his own properties. 

“Trott, I though you brother went home for the holidays.”

“He was supposed to, why?” Duncan pointed behind Trott and Ross and they all turned to see Adam talking with one of the teacher before disappearing in the corridor. 

“I’ll be right back.” The brunet said quickly before running after his brother in a flash, making everyone’s bills fly everywhere. He didn’t hear the grunts of his friends as he had already caught up with his brother and walked beside him. Adam, used to his brother’s sudden appearances didn’t even flinch.

“I thought you were spending the week back home.”

Adam frowned and growled, voice low and strained “To listen to them buggering me with my future, no thanks.” He looked tired, dark bags under his eyes and pale skin, his mouth a straight line instead of his usual smile.

“Are they still pissed that you decided to go on the field?” guessed Trott. For the last few months, it was the big row in the Trott’s family. Well except when Trott had beat Sjin up and he had focused theirs parents’ anger on him.

“It was my choice to make, not theirs.” 

“It’s just … you always said you wanted to become a teacher here.”

Adam stopped in his tracks and took a big breath before looking his brother in the eyes “I realized there were more to do outside the school, Chris. I’m actually helping people, making a difference.”

“You would be helping people here too.” said Trott softly. To be honest, he was missing his brother, missing spending time with him at the school. They barely saw each other those last couple months, Adam always on some mission with Sips and Turps.

“You sound like mum.” accused Adam. “And it’s different, outside it’s life and death. It’s dangerous.”

“Dangerous for you yes! You don’t exactly have powers that…”

But Adam interrupted him, sounded suddenly pissed “Why?! Because I’m not a speedser like you or uncle?! Because I can’t run away from danger?!” And Trott cursed inside, Adam always had a hard time with his more passive powers, dreaming since he was a kid of speed or strength, to simply show a better view and hearing than anyone else. 

“It’s different, you have different strength.” Declared Trott and he continued, trying to ease his brother “Look I’m sure you helping a lot of people with your powers or Mr Yean wouldn’t need you all the time.” 

Adam shrugged and resume walking towards his room. Trott followed “At least, you not stuck here anymore.” he sighed.

“Now, who’s frustrated?” smirked his brother.

“Shut up.” 

Adam winced as he massaged his temples. Trott frowned. « You headaches are back?»

“Yeah, I’ve been using my powers a lot lately.”

“You gotta go easy.”

“I can’t simply say “Oh sorry now it’s a bad time my head hurts”. They need my powers.”

“I know, but I need you too. So please, be careful?” pleaded Trott and his brother nodded.

“Okay. I see you later.” Concluded the brunet as he walked back to the living room, too concerned to even use his speed.

His friends immediately saw something was wrong 

“Is he okay?” asked Alex carefully.

“Yeah, just a bit worried about him. He’s just doing too much to prove himself. ”

“Headaches again?” 

“Yeah.” Trott saw Ross confused look and explained “When he’s using his super hearing too much, he kind of develops a hyper sensibility to everything. Can’t control it. Screw with his brain.”

“Is it a sound waves problem? Or his vision?” asked Duncan, suddenly very curious.

“I don’t know, Dunc. Do I look like an otorhinolaryngologist to you?” snapped Trott, obviously still preoccupied by his brother’s problems.

“Try to say that three times as fast as you can.” joked Lewis. “Otorhinolar…”

Duncan frowned and stood up suddenly, interrupting Lewis by stepping over his legs to walk after Adam. “I’ll go talk to him.”

“Okay.” Lewis drew out the last syllable before asking with a grin “Does it mean I won?” 

Ross offered “How about we go outside? It finally stopped snowing.”

 

"I'm gonna try to build the biggest snowman ever, with my miiiiind!" Lewis exclaimed as the little group, wrapped up in winter clothing, arrived in the school’s gardens, now covered with a thick layer of fresh snow. The brunet started to move his hands, building up snow slowly into a huge ball. They watched him for a couple minutes, before Trott, for who it was not fast enough, booed. 

"Fuck off, Trott! Everyone's not a bloody speedster. It's way harder with dematerialized things."

“A snowman is lame, I want to build a giant dong.” complained Ross as he looked around him to find the perfect spot, making Alex laugh. 

“I’ll help you.”

Ross and Alex slowly started to build the shaft and were interrupted not even ten seconds in as Trott, looking smug, was already standing beside a full igloo. 

"You just no match for me guys! I'm too faaAAAAWWW!" He had been interrupted by a snowball that hit him right in the face. As he tried to remove the snow from his scarf, he turned to glare at Lewis who was watching the sky innocently. Ross and Alex laughed heartedly before several snowballs came right at them. They retaliated and soon they were all engage in a furious fight, mostly being the three friends against Lewis who was more or less successfully redirecting all the snowballs coming at him. 

As Ross tried to catch his breath and rubbed his hands together, snow clumping together on his gloves, Trott gave a look at Lewis’ snow man and said thoughtfully “It’s missing something.” He sped away, coming back not two seconds later with a carrot.  
“Stole it from Sjin’s garden.” He quickly explained as he moved to put it in place, but instead of placing it on the snowman’s head he put it on its lower half. “Here we go. It’s got a carrot for a cock.” He turned to his friends who were all looking at him with feigned shock before all exploding in laugher.

Once they calmed down, they walked a few meters back to admire the result, three boys gasping when suddenly the snowman was hit with a fireball and turning towards its destination.

"Spontaneous combustion." deadpanned a grinning Alex, who was putting his glove back on. “Happens to everyone.”

"What?! Since when can you do that?!" shouted Lewis, visibly still in shock as he slowly approached his murdered snowman.

"I practiced a lot lately." The redhead shrugged when all looks turned to him again.

“In the four years I’ve known you, it’s gotta be the first time I see you using your powers in purpose.” Alex's smile slightly faltered at Lewis’ words and with a look Trott warned their friend he was stepping on a dangerous path.

Lewis rolled his eyes “What? That was a compliment! That was bloody awesome!!” Trott sighed in relied when Alex started to laugh. His friend truly came a long way if he was able to use his powers in public, Trott knew it meant he felt enough confident and in control and the speedster couldn’t help to silently thank Ross for showing up at the school when he did.

Tired and soaked to the bones, Ross sat down on one of the balls of their giant snow penis and watched Trott attack Lewis with a whirlwind of snow, created when he moved his hands at superspeed. Lewis, arms raised in front of him was trying to shield himself.  
Ross smiled at Alex when he sat down on the other ball. Silent for a moment, Ross heart sped up as he saw from the corner of his eye Alex reaching inside his coat to take out a small and dark pouch, he also heard him take a big breath before the redhead spoke with a soft voice.

"I have something for you." And he presented Ross the small velvet bag.

"Smith. You shouldn't have." protested the dark-haired boy with a blush, raising his hands in front of him.

"It's not much. Just a little something for Christmas. " insisted Alex, moving his open palm where was resting the pouch forward.

"But I've got nothing for you." And it was true, for Christmas the gang naturally decided to include Ross in their little Secret Santa operation for Christmas and he had pulled Trott’s name and offered him a pair of socks with little wings on the sides as he received a huge kinder package from Duncan. So yeah, he knew for sure Alex didn’t have to get him anything.

With a roll of his eyes, Alex threw the bag and his friend clumsily caught it "Ross. Shut up and open it."

Ross smiled and delicately untied the cords of the pouch, struggling a bit because of his gloves and upturning the pouch, the content fell onto his gloved palm.  
It was a necklace. A simple black leather cord with a silver coin pendant, black engraved letters running along the edge.

 

WATER IS THE DRIVING FORCE OF ALL NATURE

 

"The quote is from ..." started to explain Alex before he was interrupted by a very flustered Ross. 

"Leonardo Da Vinci. Yes, I know.” Ross smiled, heart speeding up and cheeks definitely a shade or too pinker. He had to clear his throat before continuing “It's beautiful Smith, thank you!"

"I thought it was fitting. With your powers and all." Alex watched almost eagerly as Ross tied it around his neck and the redhead knew he would have given anything to be the one to do it. He started to blush as well when Ross caught him staring and he gulped as he looked straight in Ross’ eyes, couldn’t help but noticing how similar they were to the grey colour of the late December sky and deciding Ross was way too cute with a winter hat on.

Too lost in each other, they barely heard Lewis screamed when Trott finally breached his defence and the boy was now getting a full mouth of snow. 

"I feel bad not having anything for you." finally murmured Ross.

"Don't worry about it. I needed to apologise for being a dick and ignoring you lately anyway." replied Alex with a little smile, turning his head away to watch his friends struggling in the snow “Okay, We better stop Trott before he turns Lewis into a snowman.” And Alex looked at Ross and winked. Yep he just winked, and Ross had to hide his flaming blush in his scarf as the redhead jumped on his feet to go to Lewis' rescue, Ross taking a big exhilarated breath before following him.

When they finally overpowered Trott by having both Ross and Lewis tackled and straddled him, it was getting dark. They decided to head back inside, and all cold, wet and spend, they went back to their room, deciding to meet in the living room just before dinner. Ross and Trott fought briefly on who should take the shower first, and Ross, too tired to argue, conceded it to his speedster friend.

"Can't you just you know... Make it fast."

Trott shook his head with a laugh "Mate, if there is one thing I'm not rushing is a hot shower after playing in the snow for hours. It's like the best thing in the world." And he disappeared in the bathroom.  
Ross settled on his bed, back against the headboard and pulled the necklace out of his sweater. As he started to play with it absentmindedly, he bit his lips and a flushed grin lighted his face. He had to think about something to offer Alex.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not sure how regularly I will upload new chapters, I have a few already finished but I'm working on something else (new fic, new AU) and I've got a real life job as well. So I would ask you to be patient, but if you here I think it's already the best proof of how patient you are :)  
> Also as a reminder, English is not my first language so don't hesitate to point out if you see a mistake or something that seems weird, it's truly a big help. Thank you!
> 
> And thank you for reading and be the most patient and awesome people in the world!


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to my amazing beta Vex and her wonderful help on this, couldn't have done it without her :)

New year's eve is usually a time of mischief for the few students staying at the mansion. But because of Smith and Duncan’s prank last year, they have to spend the night in their rooms. Thankfully, they are allowed to all bunk together and for one night, Trott and Ross' room is transformed into a pillow fort and the evening is spent drinking beer that the speedster had easily snook in. Even Smith who was pretty reluctant at first - ‘drinking makes you lose control and do stupid things’ he complained, joined in the celebration. He was still very worried though, a pillow fort was a very inflammable structure after all, and he tried not to think about what would happened if it caught fire and trapped all of his friends inside. Instead, he attempted to apply Kim's advice and focused on his friends to help him keep control. Well, he focused mainly on Ross.

Trott, Lewis and Duncan all fell asleep way before midnight, probably because of the half dozen beers they had each. Smith and Ross stayed awake, talking and whispering, alcohol loosening their tongues and laughing softly each time Duncan was snoring a bit too loud . Ross was lying on his back,comfortably sat against a pile of pillows and looking up at the sheet’s ceiling whilse Smith was lying on his stomach with his head resting on his crossed arms The redheaded boy was still very aware of Ross' proximity and made sure to keep some distance between them as the night progressed. Ross seemed equally careful of their personal space and Smith was very thankful for it. He heard his watch beep when midnight rolled around but he didn't want to interrupt Ross, and to be completely honest he was a bit anxious about what would happen once Ross found out. He knew Ross wouldn't try to kiss him or anything but he couldn't say the same about himself. All night, he had watched Ross' mouth as the dark hair boy talked and he wondered what it would feel like to kiss Ross, to press their lips together even for a second or, on the contrary kiss until they were both out of breath, a mess of tongues and saliva. At least that's how Smith was picturing it, having absolutely no previous experience to compare it with. Would Ross be more experienced? Had his friend ever kissed someone before? Smith wasn't sure, they never talked about it and he sure won't be the one to bring the subject to the table. 

It was about 2:45 when Ross finally noticed they had missed the mark . He squealed and quickly turned his head, then both teenagers inhaling sharply when they realised how close they were, almost nose to nose. Ross must have seen the flick of panic in Smith's eyes because he sat back on his covers, looking flustered.

"I'm...."

"Happy New year, Ross." Smith said with a soft smile, even if his heart was beating hundred of miles an hour, before lying down on his comforter. He turned his back to Ross and screwed his eyes shut, trying to calm his breathing.

He almost missed Ross' murmur of "Happy New year, Smith." before Smith heard him shifting on his covers and he guessed Ross must have lain back again. The redhead stayed awake for hours, waiting for Ross' breath to even but it never did and Smith just knew his friend was as much awake as he was but they both kept silent.

Ross didn't remember falling asleep but he was woken up by Trott calling him and after many complaints and sleepy groans, he peeked his head from the covers and checked his watch. 12 : 04 . He groaned again and looked around. They were the only ones in the room, the remains of the pillow fort hanging pitifully around him, the others and their stuff gone.

"Mate, you have to get up if you want something for lunch."

"Can I take a shower first?" Yawned Ross while he untangled himself from his sheets and sat up.

"Yeah. Yeah. But hurry up, I told the others we'd meet them in 15 minutes."

"Won't take long." promised Ross as he stood up and made his way to the bathroom. Once in the shower, he closed his eyes and welcomed with pleasure the warm water as his thoughts derived focused on Smith, as always. That Smith was there or not, it was almost all he could think of. He smiled as he recalled the night before and how long they had talked, just lying next to each other.

He suddenly shivered, a tingling sensation making its way up his spine and guts shunning, he realised with a start that he couldn't feel the water on his skin anymore even if he could feel the damp warmth around him. He opened his eyes and gasped. The water was still falling from the shower head but instead of pouring straight on his head it was now circling around him, flowing in a large twirl . Ross’ heart sped up and instead of panicking like the other times; he reached out to the water.

The tingling sensation ran through his arm to the tips of his fingers, raising goose bumps in its trail and as he touched the water, Ross inhaled sharply. His stomach churned something like a bolt of energy coursed from head to toes. His eyes widened when the hot water brushed through his fingers and Ross turned his palm up, the liquid instantly reacting and curling in his hand. He chuckled breathlessly, the adrenaline making him feel a bit dizzy and jumped when Trott suddenly banged on the door.

"Ross, I really hope you're not wanking in here!"

Ross stopped the water and shouted an answer to his friend as he stepped out of the shower, grabbing his towel and drying himself, and then jumping in his boxers and jeans quickly, still quite out of breath and shivers coursing through his body.  
He came out of the bathroom, topless and going to his corner of the room, he shouted "Fuck that was amazing!"  
"God I was joking about the wanking, man!" complained Trott with a fake disgusted look, his friend lying back on his bed and playing with a big sheet of bubble wrap popping the plastic as fast he could, which was, well, really fast.

"What? No. No! My powers, Trott! I used my powers!" Ross replied as he searched through his drawer to find a clean shirt.

Trott sat up on his bed and asked excitedly, discarding the plastic wrap "So you finally figured out how to trigger them?"

"Well not exactly. I was thinking about something else..." admitted Ross with a shrug he wanted to come off as nonchalant as he finally picked a red super dry shirt and put it on.

"You mean someone else?" Ross heard the knowing smile in Trott's words and he blushed fiercely, leaving his friend no doubt about how right he was.

"Shut up. Do you want to know the story or not?" snapped back Ross as he slipped into his sneakers.  
Trott laughed "Yeah yeah, sorry, keep going."

They left the room and Ross told him what had happened in the shower as they walked to the lunch room. Their friends were waiting for them and Ross had to repeat the story from the beginning, talking excitedly and recreating the scene with his hands. He left out the part where he was thinking about Smith in the shower, daring Trott to mention it with a look as he continued, but his friend kept silent, instead sporting the smuggest grin in the history of smugness. 

Speaking about Smith, he seemed so happy for him, drinking in his story with a huge smile and finally said as Ross finished his tale "That's awesome Ross!" he added "God I wished I had been there to see it!" The redhead blushing when he realised his words and stammering "I mean not in the shower with you, or even in the bathroom. You know. Because you would have been naked, probably. Because you were taking a shower. And stuff."  
Lewis leaned towards Trott and whispered “Are we helping him or just keeping listening to him babble?" And Trott's grin spread even wider if possible.  
But Smith must have heard him because he sent Lewis a glare but everyone laughed and he smiled apologetically to Ross who smiled back. With the feeling warming his chest at the moment, Ross knew he could have moved the Pacific ocean.

 

Sips entered the mansion and closed the door behind him, leaving the biting January cold outside with a sigh of relief. He took off his gloves, shoving them down his winter coat pockets and wiped his snow covered shoes on the doormat. He took two steps in the hallway before he was almost trampled by a group of excited kids, not older than 12 who were screaming and laughing loudly.

"No running in the hallways!" yelled a familiar voice and Sips turned to see Turps, trudging down the corridor and looking ready for murder.

"Trouble?" asked Sips with a barely contained smile.

Turps blew through his nose and planted his hands of his hips "They're infernal! First day back and I want to strangle half of them."

"How educational of you."

"I don't remind us being like that we were their age."

Sips snorted "Please, we were way worse than that." he replied, scanning the students who were in the hallway. "Mr Carter is still holding a grudge from the time we filled his car with dirt and it was years ago."

Turps noticed his friend looking around and it didn't take him long to figure out who Sips was looking for in the crowd "Have you seen him today?"

"Who? Carter?"

"No, you dumb idiot. Sjin."

Sips' face fell and the man sighed "No. We were supposed to meet at lunch but he bailed on me at the last minute."

"Still mad at you isn't he?"

"I must have apologized a thousand times already. What more can I do? “The taller man started walking and Turps followed him.

He pointed out "Try not to ditch him on New Year’s Eve next time? I mean it's the second time in a row mate."

"You think I had a choice?" Sips said "Yean called, what I was supposed to do? Hang up on him?" he added after opening a door and letting Turps go before him "your girlfriend didn't complain?"

"If she had known the truth, I'm sure she would have."

"You know she's gonna found out one day or the other. You can't expect her to buy all your bull about this being a children home for ever, I don't care how messed up care kids can be, one day she's gonna start questioning why you are constantly being called in past midnight."

They passed a few training rooms, completely empty at the moment.

Turps sighed. "I know."  
"Have you even tried to tell her about your powers yet?"

They stopped in front of a steel door, Sips reaching out to press his thumb on the fingerprint scanner controlling access to this part of the mansion.

Turps snorted as the door unlocked with a beep, Sips opening it and letting him through "You're kidding right? Her parents are part of the anti-mutant movement! They would kill me." He groaned and scratched his well-cut beard. The door clicked shut behind them, the motion triggered lights illuminating a stairwell and they started walking down the steps as they continued to argue.

"I'm not talking about her parents, but about her. I think she's old enough to make her own decisions. Who knows, she might surprise you." Sips shrugged, a grin lifting his usually blanked face stare "Or you can be the one to surprise her when you guys are getting it on. He paused for a moment, ignoring the look the other man shoots him. "Might need to get shatterproof glass in your flat before then."

Turps narrowed his eyes at his friend but conceded his point. "I know, I have to tell her. Sometime." He stopped in his tracks suddenly "And wait, stop changing the subject. We were talking about you and SJin."

"There's nothing more to say." said the taller man "Because it's the same every time. Sjin is mad at me because my job comes first."

They finally stopped in front of a steel door, on which a big sign said: DUNCAN'S LAB - KEEP OUT

"And it always will." concluded Sips as he knocked on the door.

They heard Duncan’s voice from inside telling them to come in and Sips pushed the door open. As always Duncan's tech kingdom was just a mess of electronic parts, wires and electronic devices everywhere on every surface. The only things Sips knew for sure was the couple of microscopes and the three different computers. The rest was anyone's guess. For Duncan though, everything was where it’s supposed to be. The man in question was standing in front of one of the computer monitors, talking to Adam, sat on a stool next to him, hand on his left ear. They had been working for a few days on a hearing aid for Adam in order to help him control the income of sound waves and sounds in general. If he had any “unwanted peaks of awareness”, as he called them, he would be now able to regulate manually his level of sensitivity via his earpiece.

“Is it better now?” asked Duncan and Adam nodded.

“Much better thanks.” He turned to Sips and Turps as they entered the lab. “Hey guys!”

Sips greeted them "Hey, Yean said you wanted to see us?" Duncan looked at them from above his monitor, seeming lost for a second before recollection hit him.

"Ah yes. I have some Christmas presents for you."

"Christmas was two weeks ago." Turps said as he picked up a long metal stick from one of the work areas. It looked like a cattle prod and was blinking red ominously from both ends.

Duncan warned him "Don't touch that.” Turps rolled his eyes and put back the device back on the table before reaching for another one, smaller and very similar to an old nokia phone but only with two antennas at the end "Or that." Turps sighed but like a kid in a candy shop, he couldn’t help himself, it was far too tempting not to touch everything and Duncan had to tell him off every single time he stopped by the lab "Okay, you know you're not supposed to touch anything in here, right?” Turps sighed and crossed his arms, pouting like said kid "Anyway Yean asked me to work on earpieces for the missions for you guys to be able to communicate. And then I started working on Adam's hearing aid and I couldn't stop." He picked up two small transparent plastic devices. “That’s for you and that’s for Turps. One is just a regular earpiece and the other one is wired to your sound wave frequency." He added, handing Turps the earpiece "Like that, when you use your sonic scream, your allies who wear it won’t be affected.”

Sips smiled gratefully "Niiiiice. Thanks." It’s not that he hated Turps’ power, it had in fact saved their lives a few times but it always very annoying to be on the other end of the ear-piercing shriek. "Did you make one for you too?"

Duncan shrugged "Of course, I did. Should have thought about it sooner really." and he walked towards one of his work stations and opened a drawer. He then turned to Turps who was fiddling with his earpiece. "I'm working on something for you too. Might help you to control more easily the intensity and focus of your sonic beam." He showed him some kind of metallic collar with a small sound box on the front but before Turps could reach for it, Duncan put it back in the drawer. “It’s not done yet, I’m not entirely satisfied with the design.”

Seeing Turps about to complain, Sips interjected "Thanks Dunc, this is gonna be really helpful."

They were interrupted by a loud bang coming from the far corner of the lab, where a tiny white robot on wheels was hitting what looked like a coffee machine.

“Is Beebot still trying to repair this old thing?” laughed Sips.

“Yes, but he’s not making great progress to be honest. He’s just banging on it most of the time.”

Turps asked with a frown “Wouldn’t it be faster if your repaired it yourself?”

Duncan chuckled “Most definitely, but it’s good practice for him. I’m trying to make him more autonomous but AI is hard, man.” As to agree with him, Beebot picked up the bin, emptied it on the floor and put it on its head before charging the coffee machine. He hit it with another loud bang, the machine not even budging. They all laughed. 

 

Kim just loved girls’ night. Even if she was very happy to reunite with all her friends when she came back to the school, she had missed her two best friends Hannah and Katie the most. Being the only child of her family, Kim spent the holidays alone, with the exception of the unavoidable Christmas Reunion where she had to babysit all of her young cousins. Since she started at the school 4 years ago, it felt like home to her, a place where she belonged and could have friends going through the same things as her. Every year, she asked her parents to stay during the holidays but they wanted her to come home, and even if she couldn’t blame them for wanting to see and spend some time with her, she wished she could have celebrate the holidays with her friends here.

Thankfully for the rest of the year, she was sharing her room with her two best friends and tonight for the first time in almost three weeks, it was girls’ night and it was about time. They had less and less of those, especially since Hannah and Lewis started dating, not that Kim was pissed about it of course, after all she pushed Hannah for almost two years to just do something about her giant crush and she was so happy for them. Now that they were together, her next plan was to set up Smith and Ross together, because let's face it they were both just too awkward to do anything on their own. They needed a little help and Kim was happy to provide. That’s how good of a friend she was.

Tonight girls’ night included drinking coca cola and doing their nails in their room, while telling each other about their holidays and Christmas presents, Katie and Hannah making fun of the brunet when she told them Duncan had offered her a beautiful music box which was played) one of Kim’s favourite songs. Her friends just loved to tease her about her friendship with the blond, but that was really all they were, friends. He was like a big brother to her and it was just too weird for her to imagine them together. They dropped the subject quickly as always and Hannah started a debate over Ross’ abs.

“Hannah! You have a boyfriend!”

“So what? It doesn’t mean I don’t want to touch them! For science!”

“I’m pretty sure Smith would incinerate you before you’d be able to get close to him though.” joked Kim as she tried to pick a nail polish colour for herself.

“They’re just soooo made for each other. Fire and water. The all opposites attract thing.” smiled the blonde, focusing on applying a black glittery polish on Katie’s nails.

The redhead added “Yes, I just can’t wait to see them together; Trott told me they were just adorable during the holidays.”

“I wonder who will top though?” asked Kim while she finally picked a vibrant purple nail polish.

Katie protested “Kim!”

“What? It’s a legit question!” shrugged Kim as Hannah answered “Smith.” at the same time, which made them laughed.

Katie said “We’re not gonna talk about their possible sex life.”

“You’re right, let’s talk about Hannah and Lewis instead!” chuckled the brunette.

To be honest, almost all of their conversations were leading them to talk about sex. Not really intentionally, it just kept happening.

"So when you guys are gonna do it?" Kim added as she handed Hannah the top coat.

The blonde shrugged, a bit pink on the cheeks "I don't know, we haven't really talked about it. We're taking things slow you know."

Katie snorted "And if by slow, you mean you should have been together for at least 2 years, you're completely right ."

“I guessed it took us a while to figure things out.” 

“Understatement of the year.” Fake-coughed Kim before sipping her bottle of coke, earning her a glare from her friend before Hannah turned her attention back to Katie, putting the final touch of top coat on the redhead’s nails.

“Not everything is as simple as you and Trott, you know.” She stated, letting go of Katie’s now perfectly manicured hand and added with a sly smirk "And talking about you guys… Trott must be very skilled in bed. I mean, vibrating hands must work wonders on stimulation.”

"Hannah!"

The blonde chuckled “What? I was just wondering! Can he vibrate his ..."

And Kim snorted, coke coming out of her nose just as Katie protested “Guys!” her Scottish accent even more pronounced as she flustered.

The brunet coughed a bit and wiped her chin before adding "Could be a bad thing too. Fastest man in here, if you know what I mean."

"Stop it." Katie, blushed even more, a warm feeling travelling her body from head to toe.

Hannah and Kim laughed "You're disappearing!"

The redhead raised her hands in front of her, and saw only the ends of her shirt’s sleeves "Oh no, not again. It happens every time I blush."

"We know." Her friends said together and they laughed even louder, almost doubling over on Kim’s bed.

Katie looked like she wanted the whole ground to swallow her before she smiled, crossing her arms on her chest "And do you know I started making people disappear as well?"

The statement was shocking enough for the blonde and the brunette to stop laughing immediately and they screamed at the same time "What?!" and "Show us!"


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took a while but yay new chapter!  
> Lots of talking in this bc plot but I'm sure some of you will have their fix of Smornby fluff as well. As always don't hesitate to tell me what you think, your lovely comments are the fuel to my motivation! :) (Seriously tho, you have no idea how much it helps) and thanks for all the love so far, can't believe the story got over 200 kudos!  
> And lastly thanks to the amazing Vex for her wonderful help as always <3
> 
> Enjoy ;)

One of the most noticeable changes since Ross had his powers was particularly apparent during his morning practices. He was faster, could breathe longer underwater and Coach Rodgers praised him, Ross defended one morning that it was not really him, but his powers to which the Coach replied that as long as he had control over his powers, it always only him. No need to say, he felt great every time he got out of the water.

Like every morning, he went to meet his friends at the bottom of the mansion’s stairs, before getting breakfast together at the canteen. Smith was missing this morning, and Ross told them he would get him and meet the others at their usual table. Ignoring their knowing looks, he ran up the stairs and made his way to Smith’s room, knocking at the door “Smith, are you coming for breakfast?” He asked.

The door opened on the young man who was sporting the most adorable case of bed hair. “Ross. Morning.“ Smith smiled before adding “Can we talk first?” Ross nodded, a bit surprised and trying very hard not to suddenly freak out. He had watched too many movies to know those words meant nothing good. Smith ran a hand through his hair and stepped back into his room, letting Ross pass in front of him before shutting the door and going to sit on his bed. Ross hesitated a minute before joining him. His friend seemed to take a big breath and would not meet his eyes.

“I thought about it a lot and I wanna try something.” He blurted out quickly.

Ross was stunned for a second, relieved that he didn’t seem to have done anything wrong but still confused where this was going “O-Okay.”

Ross noticed Smith’s hands were shaking and his friend closed his fists and suddenly turned to face him on the bed, folding a leg under him but keeping his eyes down, obviously nervous “But I don’t want you to make a big deal of it. And I especially don’t want this to turn too sappy.”

“Okay.” repeated Ross, a bit firmer this time and Smith finally looked at him.

“I want to touch you.” Ross eyebrows must have flown to the roof as Smith blushed and laughed “Sorry, sorry. That probably came out wrong.” 

“I mean…” Ross started with a smirk. He loved seeing Smith flustered way too much but the young man quickly interrupted him, cheeks still a deep shade of pink.

“Shut up. Give me your hand. Please?” Ross obeyed, heart beating suddenly faster when Smith reached for his hand, brushing his fingers along Ross’ palm before tangling their fingers together. Ross closed his eyes, breathing calmly as he focused on the feeling of Smith’s skin, warm and soft against his own. He couldn’t lie and say he hadn't longed for Smith’s touch all this time and he wanted to enjoy every second of it.

Smith looked up, nerves evident in his tone as he asked “Is this okay?”

Ross shook out of his daze and opened his eyes, smiling softly “I should be the one asking you that.”

Smith’s gaze fell and focused where he was rubbing his thumb on Ross’ skin and the young man said with a soft voice “I like you. A lot. I think you probably knew that already…”

“I might have noticed a few things yeah...” Smiled Ross, following Smith’s look on their tangled fingers.

Smith continued like he hadn’t been interrupted “And you’ve been so patient with me already.”

“What I’m trying to say is… I’m getting there okay? It’s all new to me.”

“Smith, you don’t need to apologize for that.” Ross said gently before adding with a teasing voice “And you’re worth the wait anyway.”

“Ross, I said not to be too sappy!” Protested Smith, blushing again.

“What? It’s true mate, even if you can be a right asshole sometimes really.”

“Okay, I take it back, I don’t like you anymore.” Pouted Smith and he let go of Ross’ hand and got up from the bed before turning back to face Ross with a smile, reassuring Ross he wasn’t really mad “You twat.”

“Prick.” Replied Ross jokingly and they made their way to the canteen to join the others for breakfast, both smiling like idiots.

And something changed. As simple as that, it started with fleeting touches and awkward bumping of hands, Ross never initiating anything, too afraid of scaring Smith and breaking his progress. So he waited for his friend to come to him, waited for him to lace their fingers together when they were walking to class or simply talking.  
If at first, Smith always hesitated a second before reaching for Ross. It was soon replaced by habit, little gestures so natural for them that Smith didn’t need to overthink it anymore and he surprised himself with how quickly it became normal. What surprised him even more though was the lack of teasing from their friends and Smith suspected Kim to have ordered them not to say a thing, a suspicion quickly confirmed when he caught her death glare towards Lewis as he was about to say something after seeing Smith brushing an eyelash from Ross’ cheek. 

One morning, Ross stopped him in the hallway on their way to Maths and said, blushing slightly. “I realized I never really said it back but … I like you too, you know.”

Smith smiled as warmth spread in his chest, the kind of warmth he couldn’t control but relished it anyway every time it happened “I know.” He simply replied and Ross laughed, the corner of his eyes wrinkling. Smith took his hand and squeezed it quickly. “C’mon, we’re gonna be late.” Before he dragged him down the hall after their friends.

 

Yean paced in his office, the beginning of a headache teasing his overwhelmed brain and he quickly massaged his temples with the tips of his fingers, the pain subsiding right away. He sighed as he stopped in front of the windows, watching a group of students playing, carefree, in the gardens. He couldn’t help but be troubled by the phone call he had received earlier this morning, the OCPP was sending Agent Dort to the school to speak with him. He really hoped that it wasn’t to inform him of the death of one of his student’s family members. He already went through this way too many times, years ago and he couldn’t bear having to pull one of the children out of class just to shatter their life forever. But the events of those last few months were too similar and a constant feeling of worry was nagging at his mind.  
Yean’s top priority was the safety of the kids under his care. And if it meant working with the government to assure their safety then so be it. And if he had to choose, Agent Ray Dort from the OCPP was not the worst agent of the bunch. He was loyal and efficient, really good at his job and most important for Yean, he really cared. So yes, he respected the man and liked working with him to some extent but he knew that whenever Dort came to the school, it was never good for him or the children.

His clock showed ten in the morning when a knock perturbed his thoughts and he welcomed the agent inside, slightly relieved when he recognized the familiar face, traits highly charged, prominent cheekbones, with brush cut hair and moustache and piercing brown eyes. They greeted each other with a quick handshake.

“Ray.”

“Arthur.”

“I’m afraid I come bearing bad news.” stated the man, not bothering with small talk.

“I feared as much.” sighed Yean as he gestured him to sit.

Dort opened his satchel on his lap and took out a file. He opened it on Yean’s desk and presented him with different pictures as he explained “Three nights ago, in the periphery of London, a family was killed in a house fire. The fire department is still trying to figure out how the fire spread so quickly and so violently but they didn’t find any chemicals or traces of accelerant so they’re probably going to rule it as an accident.” Yean skimmed through the photos of a burned house, scorched rooms and furniture, and what could only be four bodies lying under white sheets. His fingers tensed on one of the pictures as he noticed the two smaller forms but the other man continued as he sat down on the chair in front of the director “Mr Davenport, the father, was working in our genetics department. Like two of the other victims of similar attacks.”

"Genetics?"

“Classified studies for the most part."

Yean sighed but kept silent so Dort resumed his explanations. “Until yesterday, we didn’t have any leads but our agents managed to notice something on security cameras two streets away from the crime scene.” He took out of his satchel another picture that he had kept out of the file on purpose and slammed it in front of the other man. It actually took Yean a few seconds to recognize the man on the picture but when he did, his eyes widen slightly. “This was taken around twenty minutes before the fire started. I’m sure you know who that is.”

Yean nodded, eyes fixated on the picture. It was black and white and the figure was wearing a dark hoodie, but he was turning his head above his shoulder, allowing the camera to catch a clear shot of his features. “Edward Smith.” hissed Yean through clenched teeth. “So Chris was right, he did see him that night.”

After a moment of silence, the agent stated, no real question in his tone “I believe you have his nephew as a student here.”

“Yes.”

“I would like a word with him. To see if he knows anything about his uncle's whereabouts…”

“No.” spat Yean, Dort slightly surprised by the abrupt interruption.

“Pardon?”

“Alex doesn’t know anything about Eddie. He barely knew him before his parents’ death and I’m sure Alex would have said something if he had contact with his uncle after he supposedly died.” Dort gave him a skeptical look and Yean insisted “I give you my word, Ray. And I’m really sorry to insist but you’re not talking to the boy.” And considering the subject closed, the director asked “Anything on Neuro? Do we know if he survived too?”

Dort shrugged and he straightened on his chair “No, but if Smith survived the crash, we can only assume that his boss could be alive as well. We are preparing for the worst. Our remaining scientists are being protected 24/7 by the OCPP while we’re trying to figure out what Smith is after, we also interrogated the scientist your students saved last month and the only thing Smith asked him was how to enter the lab.” He stood up and reached for his satchel, closing it with a swift gesture “Anyway, this is what we have on the investigation for now. Of course I will keep you posted if we discover anything else. And I would appreciate if you did the same.” Yean was putting back the pictures in order but Dort dismissed him “Keep the file.”

Yean nodded “Thank you.”

"Speaking of last month's attack...."

“Ah yes, I received a long phone call about this, a two hour lecture on OCPP’s jurisdiction and the fact my students were not agents and therefore, in a dangerous situation like this one, they should – and I quote - ‘let the professionals handled it’.”

The other man snorted “Without the intervention of your team, we would have two more bodies on our hands, for me that’s the most important part.” A small pause “but my boss still thinks you are building your own little mutant army.”  
“What about you? What do you think?”  
Dort chuckled, caught by surprise. He tilted his head and seemed to think for a moment, before saying carefully “I think your students are very loyal to you and that’s what scares him. But I know we are all on the same side here. Also while I hate to admit it, he’s not wrong, Smith is dangerous and your kids might find themselves in over their head on this one.”

“Thanks for the honesty.”

“Always, Arthur.”

“Ray.”

They shook hands and Dort walked towards the door but turned, hand on the doorknob.

“Are you going to tell him? The kid? ”

Yean looked up from the picture of Smith and shook his head “Not until we know more.” Agent Dort nodded and left the office. Yean leaned back on his chair and cursed. Staring at the impossible picture for a few minutes, he shook his head and gave a look to the pictures of the burned house. Frowning, he suddenly stood up and walked to a file cabinet situated next to the window. He loosened his tie and opened a few buttons of his shirt, grabbing a small key hanging around his neck. He unlocked the first drawer and yanked it open, rummaging through the files before groaning when he finally found the one he was looking for. Closing the drawer distractingly, he looked at the name written on the side of the paper folder.

A. Smith

He sat down at his office and opened the file in front of him, skimming through the sheets of paper and pictures until he retrieved a sub file titled Fire Department Report. Smith Residence. 04/04/2010  
He read the file and had a look at the pictures, his eyebrows furrowed and his lips forming a slim line. After a few minutes, he picked up his desk phone and pressing a single button, he waited impatiently, drumming his fingers on the desk until the other man answered.

“Sir?”

“Chris. Can you meet me in my office as soon as possible, please?” He hesitated slightly before adding “Find Mark and Adam as well. ”

 

The group had a free period after lunch and as always they settled in the living room, monopolizing the big corner area, their favorite to hang out. As Simon and Lewis were deep in a conversation about the pros and cons of being a truck driver – a conversation they seemed to have every Tuesday for some reasons, Trott nudged Smith.

“Wonder what that’s about?” Smith looked up to see Turps and Sips at the living room entrance, in an animated discussion and Adam in the middle trying to call them down. They seemed to be fighting and that alone was surprising, those two were thick as thieves and while there was always a lot of teasing between them, it was the first time Smith saw them at odds.  
Adam seemed to have the last word, for now at least, as the two men left each their own way while Adam, after a sigh, made his way towards Smith’s group.

“Hey, everything’s alright?” asked Trott.

“Nothing you have to worry about.” Dismissed Adam as he turned to Smith “The Director wants to see you.”

“What? Now?”

“Yeah.”

“Did he say why?”

Adam shrugged but avoided Smith’s eyes and made him worried right away. He gulped “Okay.” And stood up, taking his bag with him and squeezing Ross’ hand who squeezed right back “I’ll see you guys in class.”

They all nodded, telling him goodbye as Adam just watched him leave.

He walked quickly to the director’s office, rummaging through his memories to think of a reason why the director wanted to see him. Right away, more as a habit than a real worry he thought Yean would tell him to stopped training with the others, that his powers were too dangerous to use with others, like Kim. But he hadn’t had any accidents, no loss of control in the last few months. To his own surprise really. Things were good.

Swallowing the lump in his throat, he waited two seconds before taking a deep breath and knocking on the big wooden door and entered as he heard Yean’s voice “You wanted to see me, Sir?”

“Yes please, have a seat Alex.” replied Yean from behind his desk and gestured to the chair in front of him.

“Is something wrong?” Smith said quickly once settled down.

“No, no. I just wanted to check up on you. I haven’t seen you in a while.” Said Yean as he leaned back on his chair “Doctor Carter told me you made a lot of progress lately. No more skipping class, your grades are going up, you seem to spend more time with your friends.” He continued as Smith kept silent “A lot of progress with your powers as well.”

Smith shrugged, trying to appear as casual as possible when he was glowing inside “I’ve been training.” 

“It’s good, I’m proud of you, Alex.” Smith smiled at that. Not to say that Yean never supported him but Smith had always had the feeling he was failing the man. Disappointing the first person who treated him as a human being after the fire, not scared of him or pitying him like all the others. The first who gave him a chance of being something better. And Smith finally felt he was actually worth the trust Yean seems to have had in him for the last five years.

“Thank you, Sir.” He said softly, emotions keeping from saying more. He cleared his throat when he realized the lingering silence between them. Yean seemed lost in his own thoughts. 

“Was there anything else?”

Yean’s gaze refocused on him, looking a bit sheepish “Sorry. No. Nothing else, Alex. Thank you for coming.”

Smith nodded and stood up, before leaving the office. As he walked to his class, he thought that for the maybe the first time in the last years, he was happy and confident in the future and what may come.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any Sjiips fans here? No? Just me? Maybe my dad? No? Okay.
> 
> Vex, you're the best and you know it, thanks for your amazing help <3
> 
> Guys, enjoy the new chapter and as always don't hesitate to tell me your thoughts on it, it helps a ton :)

With a content sigh, Sips drove his battered car up the long gravel alley leading to the mansion. After a few days out in an exhausting solo recon mission, he was happy to finally be back at the school. Even if the man had been born thousands miles from here, he had always considered this place like home. Yean had taken him in without questions all those years ago, without asking him what or who he was running from and all but offering him a safe place to stay and an free education. The need to run away quickly disappeared as he found friends for the first time, a family, love even, something Sips always thought out of reach. When he completed his education and Yean offered him a job here, the young man hadn’t hesitated a single second. He loved helping the director in his missions to find stray mutants. Kids terrified of their minds, just like he had been and offered them a place to learn how to live with their powers. Sips truly believed he had found his purpose.

It was not an easy job, most of the children were distrustful and scared and it took a lot of time to earn their trust, and even more to convince them he was trying to help them. In three years, he had brought in five kids successfully, mutants that were now undergoing their education at the school. He had been in the middle of one these missions where they realised something really bad was going on in the mutant world. After months of hot and cold, the child, a runaway 12 years old girl who could create portals, making her even more elusive, had finally starting to trust Sips. But she suddenly disappeared and call it guts or stubbornness but Sips couldn’t believe she had just run away again. He had reported it to Yean immediately, the man admitting he had encountered similar problems. Mutant children, kids nobody would miss, like runaways or orphans were disappearing. The director had run the issue through the OCPP but the Center had little to no care about those children, and Yean decided to start his own investigation. He created a team, Sips and Turps at first, and then joined by Adam to look into those disappearances and after a few months, it was clear to them they had stumbled on something bigger than they originally thought. They knew now that Eddie Smith was involved somehow, but his goal was still a mystery to them.

One of the downside of his new job had been the secrets he had to keep. And after three years working for Yean, he had really thought it would become easier, and if some days it was, today was not the day. Not with this particular secret.  
Sips believed that waiting for a confirmation for the last month was the worst. How wrong he had been. Actually knowing that Smith was indeed alive was bad, and having it to keep it from everyone was worst. Oh, Sips didn’t agree at first. He protested that people had the right to know, some people more than other. Smith was Smith – their Smith’s uncle after all and of course, Yean, echoed by Turps and Adam, had assured him it was for Smith’s protection and the news would no doubt shatter his world when the young man had been happier than ever. So Yean had made it an order not to tell Smith, or anyone else for that matter. There were more than a few kids in the school who had being victim in some extant of Neuro and Smith’s actions, including Sips’ own boyfriend and it would only create panic to reveal that Smith had in fact not died in the crash five years ago and that the pyromaniac was apparently kidnapping mutant children, not mentioning causing chaos and death wherever he went.

It just wasn’t fair, thought Sips for the hundredth time this week. After parking his car in its usual spot, he wandered over school grounds, lost in his thoughts. He was not terribly surprised when he realised he was suddenly standing in front of Sjin’s greenhouse.  
He could see the young man through the glass panel, Sjin kneeling over a row, rearranging the dirt around the crop nested there. Sips smiled fondly when Sjin smeared his forehead with dirt in an attempt to wipe some sweat away. But Sips’ smile quickly turned into greeted teeth when he remembered the other part of his problem. Edward Smith was responsible for Sjin’s big sister’s death. Sips didn’t know all the details, she had always been a sore subject for his boyfriend even years later but from what Sips knew, Smith and Sjin’s families used to be close, their parents good friends. Eddie Smith was at the time a very promising teenager, smart and handsome, who loved his nephews to death and loved spending time at his brother’s house. Things went terribly wrong one night, when Eddie was babysitting Thomas, Alex’s seven year old big brother, Sjin’s three year old sister Hollie and babies Alex and Sjin. Nobody knew what happened exactly that night but their parents came home to find the house burned down and a shocked Thomas on the front lawn refusing to give the two babies in his arms to the first responders. When interrogated, he wasn’t able to tell where Hollie or Eddie were. They had found Hollie’s body in the house a few hours later but no trace of Eddie and the investigation quickly leaned towards the teenager setting the fire that had killed the little girl. Since that night, the two families were at odds and growing up, Sjin hadn’t been able to forgive Smith for what happened even if the boy himself had never had anything to do with Hollie’s death, hadn’t been able to dissociate their Smith from his uncle. A feeling reinforced after Eddie reappeared at Neuro’s sides and a few months later, when Smith’s family died in their house’s fire. For the young man, Eddie and Alex were both murderers, people dangerous for anyone around them. 

Sips thought differently. If Smith was responsible for the fire that killed his family, it had been an accident. A terrible one that would pursue the boy all his life and that he wouldn’t stop blaming himself for. The last thing Smith needed was other people blaming him for it as well -it was only making things worse really. But Sjin’s mind was set, for him, Smith was like his uncle. End of conversation. And if Sips didn’t agree with him one bit, when presented with the choice, he had chosen the man he loved most in the world. Had loved since they met nine years ago. Even if they were still too young to really understand their connection at the time and Sips had waited a long time before finally admitting his feelings towards his friend, it had been Sips and Sjin against the world since the beginning.

He wasn’t so sure any more. He knew it was mostly his fault, after all he had promised Sjin they would leave this place once Sjin finished school, to travel and make a life for themselves. And if his first reaction when Yean had confirmed that Smith was indeed alive was to take his boyfriend and leave -very very far from here, he couldn’t leave his job, couldn’t just run away and hide. Sjin had no idea what was going on outside the school and Sips wanted to keep him safe as long as possible. It wasn't that he didn't think that Sjin couldn’t handle the world outside - a world of distrust and fear and hatred, from both sides of the coin, mutants were just as bad and arguably more dangerous. It was an aching want to keep the man he loved from becoming bitter and cynical - something Sips himself struggled with more and more after each mission. But Sips thought about the kidnapped children and how it could have been him if Yean hadn’t took him in. Sips knew Sjin wouldn’t understand. Sjin was born in a mutant family; he didn’t know what it was to be chased away from his home and hunted like an animal, having nobody to turn to. Sips knew, if he didn’t help them, nobody else would. So he stayed and dreaded the day Sjin would have finally had enough of waiting and leave him and the school.

He was suddenly pulled out of his thoughts when he realised the young man in question had stood up and was now watching him intently. With a sigh, Sips opened the greenhouse door, warmth engulfing him instantly as he closed the glass panel behind him and walked towards Sjin, following the small alley that threaded between the different rows of crops. He stopped in front of his boyfriend and ran a hand under his cap before put it back on his head, unsure of what else to do. Anything but sweeping away the dirt Sjin had on his forehead, he thought really hard. He swallowed the lump in his throat and started talking.

“Sjin, listen..”

To Sips’ surprise, Sjin interrupted him with a hug before reaching around Sips’ neck and shyly pressed their foreheads together. He smelled like dirt, like earth and Sips felt it, the connection, the feeling of recognition between their powers. Like they were made for each other, they always joked. God, he had missed that, and like Sjin could read his mind, the other man whispered, their faces inches from each other. “I missed you.” Sips felt his smile against his lips before finally pressing their mouths together.  
Seeing –feeling Sjin’s smile was everything Sips needed right now and he tightened his grip on his boyfriend, pulling him even closer. He drank in his smell, the feeling of his body pressed against him. He barely registered all the whooshing noises around them before they pulled apart and realised that a multitude of plants had suddenly overgrown and crowded the greenhouse while they were kissing. Sjin buried his head in Sips’ chest in embarrassment while the other man laughed, the kind of laugh that shook his whole body and made his eyes water.

“Shit, I had forgotten why we stopped messing around in the greenhouse.” Sjin chuckled, pink dusting the top of his ears. Stepping out of Sips’ embrace and letting the man wipe his tears away, he walked towards a row of plants, looking at the fruits the size of fist dangling from the overgrown crops. “Well, looks like we gonna have tomatoes for dinner. A lot of tomatoes.” He chuckled again, before rubbing his stomach “Fuck, I’m hungry.”

“Did you forget to eat again?” Sjin sent him a sheepish look for only answer and Sips rolled his eyes “Godammit Sjin, how is it that you can grow food with a snap of your fingers and you’re still managing to starve?”

Sjin threw his hands in the air in protest. “I don’t know, it just happens!” He tilted his head to the side when he saw Sips had stopped laughing and was now watching him in silence. He asked softly.

“Are you okay?”

“Much better now,” dismissed Sips with a smile, “I missed you too,” he dragged Sjin in his arms again, brushing his thumb against the young man’s forehead and finally smearing the dirt away while the other man pouted. “Do you need some help with the mess?”

“It would be the least you could do, seeing that you’re bloody responsible for it in the first place.”

Sips laughed again, “Fair enough.” and they got to work, harvesting fruits and vegetables, storing them in buckets that would then go to the school’s kitchen. Sips smiled as Sjin complained about his powers, oblivious to the fond looks often sent his way.

Sips had never told Sjin but he loved that his boyfriend’s powers were so sensitive to his mood. Believe it or not, it had made his job a lot easier as a boyfriend, especially at the beginning, when he was able to read Sjin just by the way the vegetation acted around him. The other man hated it because it made him feel too open, too vulnerable and he had worked very hard to get better control over his emotions, and therefore his powers. But Sips would still count it as a victory each time he cracked Sjin’s defences and he still clearly remembered their first night together and how afterwards, a very embarrassed Sjin had to explain to Yean why every single tree, plant and flower in the close proximity of the mansion had grown completely out of control. In the middle of January.  
Obviously it wasn’t as fun when Sjin’s powers acted out when they were fighting because the results were not as good for the vegetation’ life expectancy, not to mention their own relationship. He didn’t even want to think about what would happened if -when Sjin would learn the news. That the man who had killed his sister was alive, still free in the world, still inflicting pain and death in his wake. It would absolutely destroy him, reopening a wound that never really healed and probably never would. At this instant, Sips ignored the voice in his head calling him a hypocrite because he wanted nothing more than to protect his boyfriend, even if it meant keeping the terrible truth from him. Eddie Smith would pay for what he had done, Sips was gonna make sure of that.

 

Kim looked at the clock on her desk for what must have been the tenth time in the last minute and sighed, chewing the pen in her mouth distractingly. Unable to focus on her maths exercise, she tried to will away her headache and closed her eyes. But it seems to only make things worse, every sound being emphasized by the rhythmic tic toc of her clock and the laugher of the girls in the room next door. And of course, the voice in her head. Nano’s voice. Scratching at her brain and making her presence known.  
A sudden knock on her bedroom’s door made Kim jump from her chair.

Duncan was standing on the other side of the door, looking sheepish and slightly afraid for his life. “Sorry. I’m so sorry.”

“Let me guess, you didn’t realise the time?” the brunette sighed before stepping back, allowing Duncan to walk in the room before closing the door. “You’re working in a high tech lab, and you can’t program a single alarm to tell when you suppose to meet with your friends?”

“Well, Beebop was supposed to remind me.” 

Duncan slumped down on Kim’s bed as she sat at her desk, and she commented. “I really don’t know why you keep him around, he’s useless.” 

“Hey, don’t talk about him like that! Beebop is great, okay? He can be really useful!” Kim sent him a look full of scepticism. “Okay, maybe not. But at least he keeps me company in my lab.”

“You wouldn’t be always alone if you hadn’t turned your lab into Area 51 over there.” protested Kim but she was smiling, unable to stay mad at her best friend.

“It was Yean’s decision, you know that.” Duncan said. “If it was up to me, you would still be my lab assistant.”

“I know, I just miss seeing you work.” Kim admitted with a sigh.

Duncan’s powers always had fascinated her. Most of the time, he looked like any other kid on his computer but the real magic happened when he was building something. The way the parts were flying and falling into place, exactly like the man had pictured it in his mind. From the simple task of fixing the school dishwasher to creating an entirely new device, the man and his powers were truly amazing to watch. It was one of the reasons she had been so pissed when she had been forbidden to enter Duncan’s lab since the blond had started working on classified missions for Yean. The other one obviously being deprived of spending more time with her best friend. “Speaking of, could you have a look at my laptop, it’s been really slow lately.” Duncan rolled his eyes at the request but grabbed the computer from Kim’s desk anyway, waking it up from his standby mode.

“Is it the only reason you’re still friends with me?” he asked with a chuckle. “For cleaning up your computer?”

“Of course it is, Dunc.” Kim joked, not even bothering to look in his direction before pressing the heels of her hands in her eyes and grunting in frustration.

The blond stopped typing, suddenly worried, “Is Nano bothering you again?” Duncan always referred to her like she was a particularly annoying big sister who was pulling her pigtails and insulting her from time to time.

“She’s been pushing a lot lately.” Kim confessed before adding quickly. “And I know what you’re gonna say ‘don’t listen to her’ but it’s just hard sometimes, you know.”

“I wished there were something I could do to help you.”

She turned towards her friend when she noticed his heavy-hearted tone, “Hey. You tried.” She said with a soft voice.

After a particularly bad ‘Nano episode’, Duncan had spent months working on a device to block her in some way but all their attempts resulted in terrible headaches and nosebleeds for Kim and they decided to drop it, Kim arguing there was nothing he could do to help. No need to say Duncan was pissed; he hated feeling this helpless, especially when he could see his best friend suffer.  
So Nano continued to tap at Kim’s brain, pressing that she only wanted to make her stronger, to free her from her prison, aka the school and the people who were slowing her down, aka her friends. Together, they didn’t need anyone to survive, she would take care of anyone standing in their way. Blablabla. Always the same speech, over and over again. Kim managed to tune it down but sometimes, when she was at her most vulnerable, most open - at night mostly, Nano would manage to sneak in her thoughts and cause trouble, translating in nightmares or projections of what would happened if she let her free, if she allowed Nano to control her. 

“Are you even listening to me?”

“Sorry.” Kim sighed and Duncan dismissed it quickly. He was used to losing Kim to her thoughts.

“Do you want to catch a movie tonight?”

She accepted gratefully. “Sure. Should we ask the others too?”

“Well, Trott, Katie, Ross and Smith have some kind of double date.”

“Oooh, do they now?” Kim asked with a grin.

“Hm hm, and I’m pretty sure Hannah and Lewis have plans of their own.”

“Is everyone in a relationship right now? This is crazy!”

“Yep. Even Sips and Sjin seem to be back on track again, I saw them holding hands in the hallway.” Kim shrugged, she never had the best relationship with Sjin, especially because of the way he treated Smith, “Look, you didn’t have to work with a mopey Sips for weeks because his boyfriend was avoiding him. The man was miserable.” Duncan continued before adding on a cheeky tone. “Also if Happy Sjin means we will have double service tonight at dinner, it’s a win for everyone.”

Kim laughed at that. “Do you always think with your stomach?”

“It kept me alive until now, I don’t see why I should stop.” Duncan smirked before changing the conversation. “Do you need help with your maths exercise?”

Kim grunted before complaining “Don’t remind me, I’ve been at it for the last two hours.” Duncan chuckled as he closed Kim’s computer and went to grab Kim’s roommate chair and pulled it close to his friend’s desk.

“Let’s have a look.”

 

Ross’ mood had been slowly deteriorating as the day unfolded. In the morning, he had failed a written exam he had been working on for the last week, forgot one of his textbooks in the next class, having to share with Trott, and to top everything, he hadn’t been able to do anything with his powers in training class this afternoon. His friends had reassured him he was still learning and some days powers were unfortunately unpredictable, there were just nothing to do, and he would probably do better tomorrow. Nobody expected him to do miracles in only a few months of using his powers. He knew they were right but it still felt ashamed of his fails, driven by a will to prove he belonged here as much as anyone else.

After promising he would be back in time for their date, Ross left his friends to go to the pool and swim until his arms and legs hurt and his brain finally shut up. Smith offered his company but Ross dismissed it, and even if the redhead probably understood better than anyone else the need to spend time alone with your thoughts, he was still hurt and worried for the young man.

Finally breathless, Ross swam slowly to the side of the pool until he could touch the bottom with his feet and relaxed against the wall, breathing in and out until his heart beat came back to normal. For a moment, he just stared at the water and as an idea slowly formed in his mind, a determined look appeared on his face. He extended both arms, palms a few inches from the surface and focused. Nothing happened at first but after a few minutes, the usually flat surface of the pool started to ripple, the small waves changing into bigger ones quickly. Ross relished on the now familiar feeling of pure energy coming from his guts and travelling through his entire body. Goosebumps raised the hair on his arms and he focused on the feeling harder, let it build and build, unable to drag his eyes away from the troubled water, even when the world started to blur around him. He couldn't hear anything than the fast beat of his heart in his ears, couldn’t feel anything than the raw power coursing through him. He suddenly started to shake on his legs, a dizzying sensation making it hard to breath and he screwed his eyes shut.  
He felt more than heard the splash in the pool, the water under his control reacting to the foreign body swimming towards him. Someone grabbed his hands and he snapped out of it.

Smith’s face slowly came into focus, Ross struggling for a moment against a persistent nausea. "Ross, fuck, are you okay?"

"I'm fine. I'm fine.” the young man blinked, “I think I got a bit excited." he admitted with what he wanted to be a reassuring smile.

"YOU THINK?" Smith shouted, letting go of his hands and making Ross finally realise how worried he looked.

"What -?

"What were you thinking? It’s too much water for you to handle.” 

"I just wanted to try something. I didn’t realize…” Ross tried to explain, grabbing Smith’s hands and smiling when Smith let him. "I'm sorry."

"Just - don't ever do that again.” the redhead said and he seemed to take a big relieved breath before adding. “You scared me."

"I'm sorry." said Ross again, looking straight in Smith' eyes. Ross saw no fear in them, just concern and he presses his forehead against Smith's. Lips inches away, Ross felt the young’s man breath hitch and suddenly the cold when Smith pulled back.

"I'm sorry, Ross…"

Ross sighed, letting go of Smith’ hands. "I know."

"I'm trying -"

"I know." Ross repeated, firmer this time and regretting his tone when he saw the hurt look on Smith’s face. He smiled apologetically. "Let's get out of here, you have to change or you gonna catch a bloody cold. I can't believe you jumped in the pool with your clothes on mate."

"I panicked when you weren't answering me." defended Smith with a pout as they swam towards the pool’s ladder.

"Yeah. Sorry again about that."

“Are you guys okay?” asked a voice and Ross’ stomach dropped when he realised that Trott and Katie were standing on the side of the pool, watching them with wide eyes. He ignored them as they got out of the pool and walked towards his towel, suddenly feeling angry at his friends for witnessing his moment of weakness. 

“Everything’s fine.” Finally answered Smith after giving Ross a worried look that Ross pointedly ignored as well. He was fine. Totally fine. He had managed to make his powers work, they should be happy for him and he didn’t really understood what the big deal was. Smith had looked so scared for him and seeing them whispering together made him feel like a child waiting to be scolded after doing something reckless.

After clearing his throat, Trott offered to bring Smith a change of clothes whilst the redhead dried himself, Smith accepting his offer gratefully, and Trott and Katie left quickly. Smith looked around for anything to dry himself with, dripping water everywhere around him. Ross felt bad for him suddenly and offered his towel with a sheepish look. 

After a few minutes, Smith finally broke the lingering silence. “You could have died. You know that, right?” Ross turned to look at him. “If you push yourself too much, if you let your powers overtake you, it will drain you of every inch of energy you have.” Smith shook his head and added. “I’ve seen it happened. It’s… bad. That’s why you have to figured out your limits and be in control all the time.”

“I… I didn’t realise…” stuttered Ross, tears suddenly pricking his eyes. “I just wanted to…” He stopped to swallow a sob and Smith reached out to hug him. Ross sniffed and screw his eyes shut when he realised he was shaking in the other man’s arms. The redhead was the one to break the embrace, shuffling back awkwardly and Ross suspected the contact had become a bit too much for him. Smith seemed on the verge of apologising again but was interrupted by Trott and Katie coming back with a pile of Smith’s dry clothes.  
Once fully dressed, Smith reached out to Ross, lacing their fingers together and pulling him along to join Katie and Trott who were waiting for them in the living room.


	13. Chapter 13

Hey guys! Sorry for false hope, this is not a new chapter but more of a status update! Unfortunately, **Powers will be on hiatus until further notice.**

As some of you may know, there's a lot of drama surrounding the Yogscast at the moment concerning Sjin. As it is not my place to take sides, make accusations or point fingers, I won't give my opinion of the matter and for those curious or unaware about what exactly is going on, I will invite you to make some research and then make your own opinion. **I'm in no way minimizing the matter or making it about me but this is a post about my fic and how it is affected by the matter, not my opinion on it.**

For those who are wondering what the hell it has to do with Powers, let's just say that even if I learned a long time ago to dissociate the Yogscast and their offline/online personalities from the characters and fiction I'm writing, it's sometimes really hard to ignore what's happening IRL and not let it affect your writing. I started these stories bc I loved the Yogscast and writing works on fiction based on them (even if in the end, I'm writing for me and for the fandom, not them) but as my opinion about some of the Yogs changed, the dissociation had become impossible and therefore writing characters based on them much harder, a problem that's unfortunately affecting several characters in the story. I'll do my best to figure things out and find a solution on how to continue Powers.  
This doesn't mean I've stopped writing completely, just that I am conflicted about writing certain characters. As a matter of fact, I've been working for a while on a new fic that doesn't include any of them and kinda fell into the background because of Powers, and this will give me the opportunity to work on it and finally share it with you guys. I'm really excited about this new story and I hope you will be too :) 

I will take the occasion to thank you again for the massive support and feedback I had on this fic, and I hope you have as much fun reading it that I have writing it. Don't hesitate to message me on my tumblr @Greencolin if you wanna talk about fics, AUs or whatever you want :)  
Stay safe out there. <3

GreenColin

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos and comments always appreciated if you like the fic ;)


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